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1887
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Digitized by the Internet Archive
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http://archive.org/details/magazineofamericv18stev
Engraved />y V. Green, London.
From the painting by Copley.
_J
MAGAZINE
OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
WITH
NOTES AND QUERIES
ILLUSTRATED
EDITED BY MRS. MARTHA J. LAMB
VOL. XVIII.
July— December, 1887
74.3 BROADWAY, NEW YORK CITY
Copyright, 1887,
I-. HISTORICAL PUBLICATION CO.
I'rrv. r,f I 1 I.ittlr fi, CO.
A»tor Place, Nrw York.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Henry Laurens in the London Tower Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. i
Some Account of Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg Gen. Arthur F. Devereaux. 13
Manuscript Sources of American History Justin Winsor. 20
One Day's Work of a Captain of Dragoons Gen. P. St. George Cooke. 35
The United States Mail Service John M. Bishop. 45
The Biography of a River and Harbor Bill. Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D. 52
Journalism Among the Cherokee Indians George E. Foster. 65
How President Lincoln Earned his First Dollar William D. Kclley. 71
American Progress Hon. Charles K. Tucker man. 72
Enoch Crosby not a Myth ...... James E. Deane. 73
The Study of Statistics Prof. Herbert B. Adams. 75
Present Home of the Magazine of American History Walter Booth Adams. 76
Unpublished Letter of President Buchanan. Contributed by Hon. Horatio King 77
Unpublished Papers Relating to the First Steamboat on Lake George. Contributed by Mrs.
Pierre Van Cortlandt 78
Notes, Queries, and Replies 80, 168, 259, 349, 442, 539
Societies 84, 173, 264, 44S, 542
Historical and Social Jottings 88, 175, 265, 354, 449, 543
Book Notices 93, 1S0, 269, 357, 453, 54S
Presentation of the Arctic Ship Resolute by the United States to the Queen of England.
Fes sen den N. Otis, M. D. 97
The First Newspaper West of the Alleghanies William Henry Perrin. 121
The Latrobe Corn-Stalk Columns at Washington Eugene Ashton. 128
Origin of the Federal Constitution Prof. Francis Norton Thorpe. 130
Indian Land Grants in Western Massachusetts E. W. B. Canning. 142
A Love Romance in History. Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 1 50
Lafayette's Visit to Missouri - . . Judge William A. Wood. 154
The Value of Historical Study Rev. R. S. Storrs, D.D. 157
Historical Treasures Rev. W. M. Beauchamp. 161
Lady Franklin in Greece Hon. S. G. W. Benjamin. 161
Sketch of Rev. Mark Hopkins, LL. D 162
Recent Words of Wisdom 163
Two General Orders relating to German Troops, Stationed at Winchester, Virginia, 1781.
Contributed by William L. Stone 164
Unpublished Letters of Col. Beverley Robinson. Contributed by William L. Pelletreau ... 165
General James M. Varnum, of the Continental Army.
Judge Advocate Asa Bird Gardi?ier, LL. D. 1S5
How California Was Secured Hubert Howe Bancroft. 194
Our Revolutionary Thunder .James D. Butler. 203
Union, Secession, Abolition As illustrated in the careers of Webster, Calhoun, Sumner.
W. M. Dickson. 206
The United States and the Greek Revolution Hon. Charles K. Tuckerman. 217
^oV5\
CON rENTS
PAGE
i ws. and Religion Mrs. Alice D. Le Plongeon. 233
land Rev.D.F.Larnson.D.D. 239
i) ^43
I reasures 249
Carl McKinley. 251
William Jackson Armstrong. 252
by Col. Campbell in 1779, from Savannah to Augusta, Ga.
rles C. [ones, 1.1.. 1> L 256> U- 342
Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 373
rch History Rev. Philip Schaff, D.D. I. 289, II. 390
Ohio. Their Admission into the Union.
Prof. Israel Ward Andrews, LL. D. 306
Hon. S.G. W. Benjamin. 317
Jamcs Sehouler. 326
in enough Prof. Edward E. Salisbury. 330
The New Mexico Insurrection, 1846-1847 Judge William A. Wood. 333
• 1 Dutch Church, Brooklyn Charles D. Baker. 336
Prof Oliver P. Hubbard. 339
hi Cn »sby Guy Hatfield. 341
r [sland • • • -Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 361
my in 1 704 Walstein Root. 396
udy Charles LI. Peck, I. 403, II. 482
Between Bacon the " Rebel" and John Goode of Whitby.
G. Brown Goode. 418
Judge J. Tarbell. 423
ent >>f [800 T.J. Chapman, A. M. 426
. \- .1 Humorist 434
\ Poem 436
437
1 I linton, 1753. Contributed by Ferguson Haines 439
1 uhlenberg, 1794. Contributed by Richard J. Lewis 440
Vgo. I .afayette's Visit, 1824-25 Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 457
■ Free Soilers A. W. Clason. 478
itocr.it W. M. Dickson. 497
in of Dragoons. Gen. P. St. George Cooke, U.S.A., A.M. 510
• tu.il Life of Harvard College Rev. Henry C. Badger. 517
Prof. Oliver P. Hubbard. 525
ing " Henry H. Hurlbut. 532
Summons Mrs. Martha J. Lamb. 535
Gilbert Nash. 537
11 to Dr. Manasseh Cutler, Feb. 18, 1807. Contributed by E. C.
538
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Portrait of Henry Laurens i
Fac-simile of Original Autograph Letter of Henry Laurens 3
The London Tower, 1780 5
Portrait of the Earl of Hillsborough 7
Portrait of Lord Germain g
Portrait of Lord Stormont 11
General Hancock at Battle of Gettysburg 17
Milbert's Two Views of West Point, N. Y go
Presentation of the Arctic Ship Resolute to the Queen 97
Portrait of Lady Jane Franklin gg
Ship Resolute in the Ice 103
Ship Resolute after She was Repaired 105
Portrait of Commander Henry J. Hartstene ... 109
Fac-simile of Heading of the Kentucky Gazette, 1787 122
The Old Fort at Lexington, Ky., built in 1782 123
Portrait of John Bradford 125
Kentucky Gazette Printing Office, 1787 126
Present Business House on Site of Old Fort at Lexington, Ky 127
The Latrobe Corn-stalk Columns in the Capitol at Washington 128
Portrait of General James M. Varnum 185
Residence of General James M. Varnum, East Greenwich, R. 1 186
Parlor in the Old Varnum Homestead 188
Bed-chamber in the Varnum Homestead 189
Punch Bowl presented to General James M. Varnum by Lafayette 191
Portrait of Hon. Joseph Bradley Varnum 192
Running- Antelope's Autobiography 243-248
Portrait of Daniel Webster 273
West India Company's First House 274
Execution of Barneveld 278.
West India Company's Later Houses 280, 283, 286, 287
View in the City of Amsterdam 284
Portrait of General Sterling Price 333
Old Church, Brooklyn, N. Y 336
11 1 IS [RATIONS
PAGE
361
ion of Sheltei Island 3°2
! gland 363
364
\ ithaniel and Grissell Sylvester al Shelter Island 365
\ thaniel Sylvester to John Winthrop, 1075 367
the Garden at Shelter Island 369
e Manor of Shelter Island 375
I Site oi Ancient Indian Village, Shelter Island 377
( :iaim Peed oi Horseneck, L. 1 37$
S « ..irdiner 381
■ Island 382
1. Shelter Island 384
1 [( : .ry ! taring's Home, Shelter Island 385
[ the Slaves on the Sylvester Manor 386
.■11 Snuff Box 387
:ing Glass in the Sylvester Mansion 388
1 leorge Clinton, 1753 439
neral I .afayette 457
. V N . 182I . 458
on River near Luzerne, 1826 460
■ R. 1 . 1826 462
n Bridge, 1S26 464
V Y. City, 1-20 466
■ h < iovernor, Albany, N. V., 1826 468
Schuylkill River, 1826 470
/irginia, [826 473
ST. Y., i 326 474
, N. Y. 1 -J1' • 475
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII JULY, 1887 No.
HENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER
IN the summer of that dark and memorable year for America, 1780, when
the leaders of thought and the leaders of armies were alike groping
in a dense cloud of agonizing uncertainty as to the future of this country,
Henry Laurens of South Carolina, ex-President of the Continental Con-
gress, was commissioned by that body to proceed to Holland and endeavor
to borrow money there, or anywhere in Europe, on account of the United
States. A packet belonging to Congress was in Philadelphia, the fast-sail-
ing brigantine, Mercury, commanded by Captain William Pickles, and in
the general impatience for speedy relief Mr. Laurens hurriedly embarked
on her, with the expectation of being attended on his voyage by two frig-
ates and a sloop-of-war, as far, at least, as the banks of Newfoundland.
Henry Laurens was at this time fifty-six years of age, a Christian gen-
tleman, of large means, of well-known mercantile experience and integrity,
of fine personal presence, varied learning, and many accomplishments.
He had previously resided a few years in England while superintending
the education of his sons, and was personally acquainted with many of the
leading statesmen of Europe. Before sailing he asked the Committee of
Foreign Affairs for a copy of a paper that had been drafted by Vanberkel,
the Dutch Minister, and William Lee of Virginia, as a possible form for a
treaty between the Dutch provinces and the United States when the inde-
pendence of the latter should be established. The original instead of a
copy was given to Mr. Laurens, as it had never been read in Congress and
was of no special value or authority whatever. He tossed it into a trunk
of miscellaneous papers, chiefly waste, intending to look over the whole at
sea and discard what was worthless. The frigates failed, much to the dis-
appointment of Mr. Laurens, to join the Mercury as a convoy, and the
sloop-of-war was soon dismissed because it was an exasperatingly slow
sailer and wasted valuable time. Shortly afterward, on the bright morn-
ing of the 3d of September, a British man-of-war, the Vestal, of twenty-
eight guns, was seen bearing down upon the lone vessel, and before noon
the Mercury-was fired upon and forced to surrender. As soon as escape
Vol. XVIII.-No. i.
HENRY LAURENS IN 1111" LONDON TOWER
;iblc Mr. Laurens hastily burned or threw overboard all
documents ; but the trunk of odds and ends was left, and
:tary reminded him of some private letters within it, would
led too unimportant for destruction. As it was they
ntents with sonic confusion into a long bag, poured
1 threw it into the sea. The British sailors saw it and
1 the unauthentic draft of the treaty—the project-eventual
i their private capacities— was subsequently made by
a the ba<is for a declaration of war against the Dutch.
ducted to the Vestal Mr. Laurens offered his sword and
about fifty guineas in gold to Captain Keffel, who re-
somewhat gruffly, saying: "Put up your money, sir, I never
!• was some ten days before the vessel arrived at St. Johns,
ind. and during that time the distinguished captive was treated
ost courtesy. " Soon after we anchored," wrote Mr. Laurens
ir\\ " Admiral Edwards sent his compliments, desiring I would
n that and every day while 1 should remain in the land. The
ved me politely at dinner; seated me at his right hand ; after
isted the king; I joined. Immediately after he asked a
n me. I gave l George Washington,' which was repeated by the
mpany, and created a little mirth at the lower end of the table.
niral. in course of conversation, observed I had been pretty active
ountrymen. I replied that I had ' once been a good British
• after Great Britain had refused to hear our petitions, and had
out of her protection, 1 had endeavored to do my duty. While
foundland I never heard the term rebel ; and as occasion re-
s freely of the United States, of Congress, and of indepen-
- I had ever done in Philadelphia. Nine captains of British men-
I me by a visit, and every one spoke favorably of America,
ler connection with France. One of these gentlemen ad-
upon my arrival in London, to take apartments at the new hotel ;
hall know where to find you.' I smiled and asked if
I •» hot.l in London called Newgate? ' Newgate! ' exclaimed
they dare not send you there ! ' 'Well, gentlemen,' I said,
ind you will hear of the hotel where I shall be
• ♦
September Mr. Laurens sailed for England in charge
ind in ten days landed at Dartmouth, whence he was
a post < li.ii '• with four horses to London. They arrived at the
n >A ili<- South Carolina Historical Society, Vol. I.
EJENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER
X*~»£-* AL~r<~ j6*t^L4M0* A*»& <&***- je>»^Z+*a si* *« *& ++-'-r*X** c "^ ^
*z- **-•' ikt^m^C^. 4+t*yisC j^Li&i+m^ ^C^z, #-^-*-*w— +***sg**^y£~s6> Att±
ff-e^*^ ZfiL*^ **&<*> AU An**»~**.£Z <f(&fl^~ SZyOU^te ^TJ^^rfzu^-K^
FACSIMILE OF THE ORIGINAL AUTOGRAPH LETTER WRITTEN BY HENRY LAURENS ON THE " VESTAL."
[From the collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet.]
Admiralty Office late in the evening of October 5, from where Mr. Laurens
was sent under a strong guard up three pair of stairs, in Scotland Yard,
into a very small chamber. Two kings' messengers were stationed at one
door all night, and a subaltern's guard of soldiers at the other. Mr. Lau-
rens smiled at this unnecessary parade of power, as he was so ill at the time
that he could not walk without assistance. The next day he was con-
\i,\ LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER
y's office and examined before Lord Hillsborough,
nt, Lord George Germain, and other notables. Lord Stor-
the examination, which was very brief, and then told Mr.
hat he was to be committed to the Tower of London on " sus-
Mr. Laurens asked for a copy of the commit-
granted. Mr. Chamberlain, Solicitor of the Treas-
who was present, said. "Mr. Laurens, you are to be sent to the
.don. not to a prison ; you must have no idea of a prison."
racefully bowed his thanks and thought of the " new hotel"
n recommended by his friends in Newfoundland. He wrote
nal : " From Whitehall I was conducted in a close hackney
inder the charge oi Colonel Williamson, a polite, genteel officer,
t the illest looking fellows I had ever seen. The coach was or-
roceed by the most private ways to the Tower. It had been ru-
.i rescue would be attempted. At the Tower the colonel de-
e to Major Gore, the residing governor, who, as I afterwards was
-nned. had concerted a plan for mortifying me. He ordered
in the most conspicuous part of the Tower (the parade.)
teople of the house, particularly the mistress, entreated the governor
airthen them with a prisoner. He replied, 'It is necessary. I am
nined to expose him.' This was however a lucky determination for
people were respectful and kindly attentive to me from the be-
of my confinement to the end ; and I contrived, after being told
humane declaration, so to garnish my windows by honey-
nd a grape-vine, as to conceal myself entirely from the sight of
nd at the same time to have myself a full view of them. Their
hips' orders were ' to confine me a close prisoner; to be locked up
- be in the custody of two wardens who were not to suffer
their sight one moment day or night ; to allow me no liberty of
any person, nor to permit any person to speak to me ; to de-
! pen and ink ; to suffer no letter to be brought to me,
• from me, etc.' As an apology, I presume, for their first rigor,
me their orders to peruse. And now I found myself a
er, indeed; hut up in two small rooms, which together made
uare ; a warden my constant companion ; and a fixed
i in\' window : not a friend to converse with, and no pros-
pondence. Next morning, 7th October, Governor Gore
room with a workman and fixed iron bars to my windows;
rv. The various guards were sufficient to secure my
done, I was informed, either to shake my mind or to mor-
HENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER
0 Q
2 S
3 "ft.
x ^
1 I
HENRY LAURENS IN rHE LONDON TOWER
neither effect. 1 only thought of Mr. Chamberlain's con-
: curious features in connection with the imprisonment of
i London rower was his being compelled to pay rent for his
us own food, fuel, bedding, and candles. When the
e clear to his perceptions, he said to his jailor, " Whenever
;ht a bird in America 1 found a cage and victuals for it."
iriences of Mr. 1. aniens in London Tower were of an interest-
as oi a thrilling character. He was ill with the gout and other
lien he entered his prison, but no medical attendance was pro-
any of the ordinary comforts of a sick room were allowed him,
nore than twelve months before he was granted pen and ink to
! of exchange to provide for himself. He obtained a pencil, how-
i one of his humane attendants, and frequent'eommunications were
by a trusty person to the outside world. He even corresponded
of the rebel newspapers. His son Henry, and some other visitors,
nitted to see him occasionally for a few moments at a time
mtionary restrictions. But just as he was gaining a little in his jail
lluckily fell in one morning with Lord George Gordon, then a
•isoner, awaiting his trial, who invited him to walk by his side. Mr.
- declined, and returned immediately to his apartment. But the
v»r hearing of it, through one of his spies, made the accidental meet-
text for turning the key closely upon his American prisoner,
Ir. Laurens was actually locked into his little apartment forty-seven
lays. General Vernon finally heard of this, paid Mr. Laurens
►rders that he should " walk when and where he pleased "
s prison boundaries — and on the 22d of February (1781), he
■ id for the first time since the 3d of December.
lid used his utmost efforts to obtain the release of Mr.
1 parole, offering to pledge his entire fortune as security, but
the realm would listen to no such propositions. Overtures
kinds were made:, however, through Oswald and others, to Mr.
•'•hi' 1) he resented with much spirit.. On one occasion he was
he would "write two or three lines to the ministers," and
• sorry for what is past, a pardon would be granted."
from Mr. Laurens was quick and decisive in the nega-
advised "to take time and weigh the matter properly in his
Mr. Laurens exclaimed : " An honest man requires no time to give
in honor IS concerned."
I brilliant jon, John Laurens, a young man of twenty-seven,
HENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWEK
and the hero of many a deed of valor, appeared in Paris, in the spring of
1 78 1 as a special minister of the United States, to negotiate a loan from
IfceMgMoi? H TheEABL (£ SELLSBOROUGH.
France, there was a sensible commotion in the British atmosphere.
Oswald hastened to tell Mr. Laurens that the event " would prove very in-
jurious " to his interests. Manning wrote to him that his " confinement
ItlVuN ! tUREXS IN rHE LONDON TOWER
ore b< the more rigorous, because the young man had now
mself an enemy to his king and his country." Oswald
f Mr, Lauren- would advise his son to withdraw from the
would be extremely well taken at the British court. Mr.
i Loth that his son was of age, and had a wall of his own ;
i of honor; and while he loved his father dearly, and
lis life for him, he would not sacrifice his honor to save
. md he applauded him for it.
tiled round and still Mr. Laurens occupied the little
Lower. On the 8th of October a message was brought to
ovoked li is hearty laughter. The governor sent a man to collect
i the two wardens for one year's attendance upon the
such a grotesque claim that Mr. Laurens answered with
•• This is the most extraordinary attempt I ever heard of!
i to provoke me to change my lodgings. I was sent to the
Secretaries of State, without money in my pockets (for
Their Lordships have never supplied me with a bit of
bit of bread, nor inquired how or whether I subsisted. It is
ree months since I informed their Lordships the fund which
lat time, supported me was nearly exhausted. I humbly
eave to draw a bill on Mr. John Nutt, a London merchant
1 to me, which they have been pleased to refuse by the
"t all denials, a total silence; and now, sir, when it is known
that I have no money, a demand of this nature is made for
their Lordships will permit me to draw for money when it is
itinue to pay my own expenses, so far as respects myself,
possessed of as many guineas as would fill this room, I would
wardens, whom I never employed, and whose attendance I
to dispense with. Attempts, sir, to tax men without their
lave involved this kingdom in a bloody seven years' war.
ir, be pleased to deliver to the governor as my answer;
application you have made, appears to me to be extraor-
'"l unjust, and I will not comply with it.'"
wo Mr. Laurens contrived to insert an account of this
th< new papers. It appeared so amazing to people that
first to believe it ; hut Mr. Laurens found means for con-
• idea of changing his lodgings became an amusing topic for
i the 25th of Ortobc-, while the news of the capture of
• ntire army was crossing the ocean, Mr. Laurens pen-
n Ins journal : " I have been so unwell since mv confine-
HENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER 9
ment as to be deprived of appetite for eating ; yet, for the honor of the
United States I have kept up a well-spread table, paid a guinea per week
for marketing and cooking, and had three full suits of new clothes made,
LORD GERMAIN.
{Copied through the courtesy of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet. .]
which I was not in want of. . . . Maladies increasing upon me ; my
money expended ; nothing to eat except what might be sent to me, which
I accounted as nothing and which did not come every day. An account
\ l\ [ U RENS IN IHi: LONDON TOWER
. edition appeared in the public prints, which, I was in-
idministration much uneasiness, and brought loud re-
them. Sir John Dyer, commandant of the Tower battalion,
the po"P:e of the house. ' if the printed accounts were true.'
the affirmative. He went to Governor Gore and ad-
Mr. 1. anions should die you would be indicted, for he
glected.' The governor was alarmed ; made a virtue of neces-
mediately, and in Language to which I had not been accus-
m, offered to go to the Secretaries of State with any message
, be pleased to send. I replied: 'The Secretaries of State, sir, do
nformation ; it is upwards of four months since they received
•mat ion and prayer for the use of pen and ink, to draw a short
ley. I have also been a man in authority, Governor Gore; I
British prisoners in a very different way from that which I
need : their Lordships have been fully acquainted with my
British officer-, and can give proof of this. I thought myself
• man before I came here, but I now find I had' mistaken
I am one of the proudest men upon earth ; I will not condescend
.) their Lordships again.' The governor withdrew and looked as
my opinion, that I was a very proud and saucy chap. I was
. 1 -p<>kc not my own, but a language becoming the dignity of the
I was very sick ; this is truth ; but I was in no danger of
irving. I might have had as much money as I wanted from Mr. Oswald
[anning; the latter had a considerable balance of mine in hand.
sum deposited in France, but I had resolved to drive their
ither to make proper provision for me, or to allow me the use of
to draw upon John Nutt, on whom only I would draw. In
the governor returned; said the secretaries had considered I
if pen and ink. The next morning, October 30th, pen
brought to me, and taken away again the moment I had fin-
• on Mr. Nutt for fifty guineas. The bill was paid."
h of November the tidings reached London of the surrender
li . Lord Germain was the first to read the dispatch. Lord
retary of State, being present, the two entered a
) to save time, and drove to the house of Lord Stormont.
them in the vehicle, and the three drove rapidly to the resi-
North. Tin- prune minister received the news, said Ger-
lld have taken a musket ball in the breast." He threw
lb- paced wildly up and down the room in the greatest
laiming, " It 1 .ill over! it is al
HENRY LAURENS IN THE LONDON TOWER II
bled two days later. The speech of the king was confused ; but he still
insisted on prosecuting the war. In the debates that followed, Fox,
Burke, Sheridan, the youthful William Pitt, and others assailed the min-
istry and the war as no ministry had ever before or has ever since been
LORD STORMONT.
\From copy of an engraving of tke original painting at Caenw:od.~\
assailed. The city of London entreated the king to end hostilities ; and
public meetings in every part of the kingdom expressed the same wish.
In the House, resolutions offered for the discontinuance of the war were
defeated by a small majority.
Mr. Laurens soon became aware of the anxiety of the ministry to get
rid of him ; but the dilemma was in the difference of opinion as to the
HENR> I U RENS IN iHE LONDON TOWER
Laurens would not accept of a pardon; and Lord Hills-
, edition could not be changed from a state pris-
■ war without the intervention of a pardon, and only
.r could an exchange be negotiated. Edmund Burke
•ucc to abate the severity of treatment and secure the
urens. The opposition, in the sharpest of language,
>urse of the administration in regard to Mr. Laurens.
length softened sufficiently to make inquiries concern-
About the same time came news across the water that the
urens was the custodian of Cornwallis in America, and that his
the humiliated nobleman was exactly the reverse of what his
rieneed in the Tower, locked in the very prison of which
governor. From that hour severities were transformed
and on the last day of December, 178 1, with health greatly
- fifteen months' confinement, Henry Laurens was taken
• in a sedan chair, and was henceforward free. It had been
• he should be liberated on bail, his trial to come off at the
rm <>f tin King's Bench. He was carried to one of the inns of
, where he was met by Lord Mansfield, and the formalities of his
He was never brought to trial, but, on the contrary, was
,vith consideration and deference. The Duke of Richmond sent
nd discussed divers plans for coming to a right understanding
I State-. On one occasion the duke remarked, "Suppose,
were to grant you independence — " " Grant, my lord
errupted Mr. Laurens. "We have independence. Who can
Great Britain may, if she pleases, acknowledge it." The
>ment, then said, " Well, Mr. Laurens, I will not dispute
rd. I will say acknowledge."
:lburne, upon coming into office, secretly consulted Mr. Lau-
:at frequency. At the desire of his lordship, Mr. Laurens
1 for an interview with Mr. Adams, while Oswald visited
iversation with Dr. Franklin. When the tidings of Mr.
from tin- 'lower reached America, Congress at once placed
1 ommission, and he was with his colleagues in Paris
liminary treaty was concluded. Through the generous
' I>r. Thoma Addis Emmet, our frontispiece, this month, is a
trait of Mr. Laurens, after Copley's painting.
,/
SOME ACCOUNT OF PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
The morning of July 3, 1863, the third day of Gettysburg's battle,
opened with both armies in apparent apathetic quiet. About the centre
of the famous " Horse Shoe" occupied by Meade's forces, immediately
to the left of the cemetery, a knoll projected out a little from the general
direction of the Union line. This knoll was crowned with a growth of
small oaks constituting a prominent feature of the landscape. The slope
of this knoll towards the enemy, and for a little distance to both right and
left, was held by the Second Division, Second Corps, under command of
General John Gibbon. In it were three brigades, that of General Alex-
ander S. Webb, on the right, Colonel Hall in the centre, and General
Harrow on the left.
There was but one line of infantry from the left up to Webb's position
where one of his regiments had retired a few paces. One spirited writer
has fixed the immortal stamp upon that " Single Line of Blue."
During Sickles' fight in the Peach Orchard of the previous day, two
regiments of Hall's brigade had been detached under my command and
sent out to take part therein. These had returned after night-fall, and
there being no place in the front line, were stationed some distance to the
rear.
This explanation is given so as to furnish a fair understanding of sub-
sequent events.
After early morning Lee's artillery could be seen massing in our front.
Conjecture easily anticipated the object. A tremendous cannonade on
some points of the Union line and an infantry assault ensuing. What
point more likely than this conspicuous and central one?
Events showed that Lee regarded it as the " key point " of the position.
His policy of a fierce assault immediately following a heavy fire of guns
with purpose of piercing his enemy's centre declared his belief in the weak-
ness of that point and his confidence in successful issue. History must
record the soundness of his judgment, and how victory barely escaped his
grasp. That morn of busy preparation along the lines of Lee was spent
in absolute inaction on the part of Meade's forces, at least by this portion.
A brooding silence hung over it with a pall of dread anticipation. Few
men have the tiger instinct of blood until the moment of danger and re-
sentment has discarded humane sentiment. The period before a conflict
M OF PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
tble impresses a solemn sense upon all with greater
ranization. Then it is that men must face with
Abilities which throng it. The inclination for self-com-
than the desire for interchange of thought. But the
tion which so acts is fortitude's true test.
lay there on its arms, this calm resting over all, scarcely
; itself apparent to disturb the universal hush. Sud-
n trom the enemy's lines broke the oppressive stillness.
rnal. No sooner had its report roused the attention
inary Ridge opened in one grand salvo with concen-
>bon's division. The shot from that signal gun struck Lieu-
S. Robinson of the Nineteenth Massachusetts, cutting
icarly in two. killing him instantly. He was a young man much
ted. lie had won his spurs in the ranks and was wear-
i reward of merit on his shoulders in the badge of rank of his hard-
■ ission just acquired.
- time on tor two hours the roaring of the cannon and burst-
- from both sides was so incessant that the ear could not dis-
ish individual explosions.
grand raging clash of ceaseless sound. Pandemonium broken
ph) i to a cyclone in comparison. The Army of the Potomac
cen part in more than one tough fight and were not much afraid of
i : but I imagine the survivors of that terrific hurricane of shot and
find it in their inclination to send an " excuse me, please," to
i t<» attend, as wall-flowers, such another satanic entertain-
>s duty called. The firing of cannon ceased almost as suddenly
in, and Pickett's splendid division moved out to cross the inter-
the two low-lying ridges, occupied by the opposing armies,
lagnificent charge which has extorted the admiration, unqualified,
• be ever memorable in history, and which won the po-
or but could not hold it.
tory of this grand effort has been many times repeated, and I shall
'If to the relation of what occurred after Pickett had crossed the
and came sweeping up the slope, still carrying every
I a it borne forward by all-ruling fate.
noil bearing the historic u Little Oak Grove" slopes off well to-
OUth and cast. From the left of my line (the two detached
brigade already alluded to) Colonel Mallon and myself
huh compassed a good deal of the ground even directly in
levation. Standing there, looking on the grand array of that
SOME ACCOUNT OF PICKETT S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG 1 5
majestic charge, was it mere impulse that stirred me to move forward my
men nearer yet to that "Single Line of Blue"? Or was it prompting
from a higher source that determined the action ? One only can tell when
all secrets are unveiled. However, it was done. Plain it was that we
could not escape some part in the tragedy to follow. It might be a des-
perate one, and what was the material upon which reliance must be placed
to meet and perform the duty ?
The Nineteenth Massachusetts had been trained from the start in a disci-
pline as stern as that of Cromwell's " Ironsides." Nevertheless, it had never
come within the range of my experience to know a body of troops where
mutual confidence of officers and men existed in a higher degree. I had
known five months at a time to go by without one instance of punishment
in the regiment, however slight. The guard tent, as a rule, after its early
history, existed as a necessary formality, but as a place of duress its exist-
ence was mostly traditional. To incur its penalties brought a severer one
from the comrades in the same company, and absolution was obtained by
their consent alone. What made this was true soldierly self respect.
Esprit de corps is a tame sound beside it.
At Antietam, Sedgwick's splendid division, in close column by brigades,
without a skirmisher in front, was sent forward through a belt of woods
and rammed up against batteries and infantry in position. It withered
before a fire so sudden and so fierce as to create slaughter almost unex-
ampled in the annals of the war. The First Minnesota and the Nine-
teenth Massachusetts, holding the right of two of the brigades with now the
distance of a division between them and the balance of the army, could not
be dislodged by the enemy, and were not until the division was re-formed
some distance in the rear.
At Fredericksburg, Burnside's failure to lay his pontoon bridge led to
a call for volunteers to man the pontoons. The Seventh Michigan and the
Nineteenth Massachusetts crossed the swollen Rappahannock in open boats
and drove the enemy's sharpshooters from their rifle pits, whence they had
foiled all efforts of the Engineer Corps of the Army of the Potomac in
laying the bridge all through the day, causing such loss in officers and men
as temporarily to disable it.*
* Palfrey, in his " Campaigns of the Civil War," erroneously ascribes the credit of the crossing
at Fredericksburg to the Twentieth Massachusetts. That regiment does not need to appropriate one
leaf from the record of any other to twine with its own chaplet of laurels. Gen. Palfrey's personal
character is guarantee of the inadvertence of the substitution. Carleton's "Boys of '61" is
guilty of the same error and undoubtedly from the same cause. Neither would willingly pervert
history through partiality or prejudice.
PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
designated RELIABLE.
tcenth Massachusetts has with it the Forty-second
ribution to the country's cause. They had
the same brigade with the Nineteenth Massachusetts
arch, and on the battle-field from Ball's Bluff to the
e traditional fun and fight, Paddy's heritage, which
ssion cannot rob him of nor repress.
n excellent condition under the firm rule of Mallon.
urdy courage and Ireland's fiery valor must be ready
• >gether once again this day.
nity was not denied them nor long delayed,
unl myself could view the whole scene standing up as we
.• probably the only persons close enough readily to distin-
h occurred, and so entirely free from personal participation
intelligently to judge it.
Webb cannot firmly hold his men against the shock of
. though he may throw himself with reckless courage in
e the storm, and beg, threaten, and command.
In. overlapped, has to sag back with sullen fury, swaying to
n the i ressure, but swaying forward again like ocean surges
»ck. This creates disorder, heightened by the men of Harrow's
i that direction, apparently without orders or concert,
>me instinct of hurrying to the rescue. Everything was in
mental organization was lost, ranks were eight or ten deep,
ing, struggling, refusing to yield, but almost impotent for
ap yawns immediately between Webb and Hall.
width of the Oak Grove and for some distance to the right
n <• on our line. Every gun on our front there is
><lni!f, ( Pushing, Brown, Rorty, and every other commissioned
n .'it exception, of the respective batteries, is dead or dis-
1 ribbon badly wounded.
oted Second Corps, whose proud boast it was that it " never
o hi cumb at last ?
Mallon,
hi adlong rush of horses' feet, spurred to the utmost, came
behind from the direction of the Baltimore pike. I turned.
I ■ mbodiment of the god of war, rode Hancock, the
■
SOME ACCOUNT OF PICKETT S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
l7
GENERAL HANCOCK PAUSING TO GIVE THE ORDER TO COLONEL DEVEREUX.
I shouted as he nearly trampled on my men, still lying down and as yet
unseen by him. He threw his horse on its haunches.
" See," I cried, u their colors ; they have broken through. Let me get
in there."
His characteristic answer fitted time and place, and he shot like an arrow
past my left toward Hall's struggling lines, receiving in a few seconds the
wound that swept him from his saddle and so nearly cost him his life.
Meanwhile Mallon, springing from my side, was instantly with his men,
and both regiments on the double quick moved side by side to fill that fear-
ful gap. The two lines came together with a shock which stopped both
and caused a slight rebound. For several minutes they faced and fired
into each other at a distance (which I carefully measured after the fight) a
little short of fifteen paces. Everything seemed trembling in the balance.
Vol. XVIII.— No. 1—2
OUNT OF PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
■ could gel a motion forward must surely win. General
, i couldn't sec. Just then I felt rather than saw Hall,
it my side.
now," he said. "Sure; but we must move," I replied.
t .i man broke through my lines and thrust a rebel battle-
ds. lie never -aid a word and darted back. It was Cor-
De Castro, one of my color-bearers. He had knocked
-bearer in the enemy's line with the staff of the Massachusetts
d the falling flag, and dashed with it to me.*
by this tune wrapped round the right of the grove a
g lines were standing as if rooted, dealing death into
; it is impossible to say with exactness. There they
! wouldn't move. All of a sudden a strange, resistless impulse
- urge tlu- Union arms. I can compare it only to a Titan's stride.
;ncd to actually leap forward. There was at once an in-
udi of thick, hurrying scenes. I held the blunted apex of
•ntering angle, which was the appearance made by our lines.
\ shout.
lined to open as if by magic. It was not flight, however.
of unarmed, defenseless men poured through. They almost ran
1 In remnant of Pickett's gallant men abandon that nearly
large, and Gettysburg translated reads, A Nation Saved.
ad four colors of theirs on my arm by this time.f
>nder it took more than mortal patience to bear up under the
pointment so swiftly following on such assured success of a few
►re. The lieutenant-colonel of a Virginia regiment, seeing
ived a testimonial of his gallantry on the spot, as follows :
Headquarters Nineteenth Regt. Mass. Vols., July 4, 1863.
rporal Joseph II. De Castro, Co. I, 19th Regt. Mass. Vols., in the
■ : divi rioii on Gibbon's division of 2d corps U. S. army on July 3d, 1863, at
the colors of the 14th Regt. Virginia Infantry C. S. A , inscribed with
did place the same in my hands during the actual conflict.
I) A. F. 1
. Mass. Vols.
.
utanl [gth R< gt. Mass. Vols.
• ward was one of the four special medals struck by order of the
Lordinary gallanl conduct.
t Mallon captured two colors. Roth regiments however, came at once
the brigade commander, and Mallon's trophies were not turned in through
">,h ■'•'• achusetts al Gettysburg by casualties (killed and wounded,
■ in< luding officers and enlisted men, and seven over.
SOME ACCOUNT OF PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG
19
what I held, exclaimed : " You Yanks think you've done a great thing
now."
lt It's our turn," I said ; u remember Fredericksburg."
I doubt if either of us realized, at that moment, precisely how much
the "Yanks" had done. The full import has since been amply recognized.
It was the critical point of the culminating battle of the long struggle,
or, as it has been happily termed, the " high water mark of the rebellion,"
ebbing slowly and surely thence till it left the Confederacy stranded.
For the Union line to have failed at that point meant the accomplishment
of all the plans of General Lee and recognition of the South by foreign
powers. By common consent it has been regarded as the knock-down
blow to the loser in the fight.
I have always felt a reverential awe of the responsibility resting on
these two regiments in this conflict. They were advanced before I could
anticipate what use could be made of them, and halted just at the spot, as
it proved, where they could be hurled with full effect right against the
front of Pickett's column, which had actually pierced our lines and gained
its objective point. They were the only troops in prompt striking dis-
tance. They alone were under full command and in perfect order, sent
forward to the performance of a specific purpose, with the way open.
Their arrival steadied Hall's and Harrow's swaying line ; enabled Webb to
rally his command once more ; made effective Stannard's throwing out
perpendicularly to the line, on the left, and Hays' rush from the right ;
formed a cul-de-sac, and held the enemy in the jaws of a vise whose resist-
less pressure must inevitably crush.
If I am right in my opinion, they were worthy to come to the support
of their gallant comrades in their time of desperate need. If they had
not come, what then? If they had not been just there, who will say
what might have been ?
In after days, when memory without warning would suddenly unroll
the panorama of those few fateful moments, flashing in an instant the
recollection of every incident on the retina of the mind, I have felt, deep
down in my heart, of the participants in that fierce struggle, that, under
Providence, these did that much for their country. They have not lived
in vain.
SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY*
mi CONSPICUOUS COLLECTIONS EXTANT
ttention to some considerations respecting the manuscript
xican history, as they exist in this country, both in public
n private hands, with a view to suggesting some methods for
rvation, and for insuring to the historical student a more
i knowledge oi their nature.
abject is too wide to be considered in all its bearings within the
1 here, and 1 shall therefore mainly refer to those collec-
more extensive sort which relate to the history of the American
[1 should be borne in mind that there was not, during that
tive period of our nation, the same rigid enforcement of the rights of
.nts to the official papers of its servants which prevails now. Ac-
gly, it would be impossible to write the full story of the American
n with the documentary evidence left in the hands of the depart-
officers of the present day, as a legacy from the Committees and
and Congresses which, in those days, conducted our affairs. It is
true, though in a lesser degree, that the English archives and those of
the Continent of Europe need also reinforcement from family papers, if we
mpletely the same period on the other side of the ocean.
1" '. '.- tin- scant care and unstable protection given to government
luring those unsettled times which then made the collection of
i private hands of greater necessity than at present; and threw a
the responsibility of preserving them, then than now, upon
nts ol tin government in their private capacity. Added to the
time was what always accompanies a revolutionary adminis-
la< 1; of an efficient organization for such accessory functions
ill as imply a body of archivists. It was then an enforced
- sponsibility, as well as a consciousness that deeds were enacting
world would not willingly let die, that insured the collecting and
"On of ju< h masses of papers as are now associated with the names
-ton and Greene in the army, and of Franklin and the Adamses
not at this moment to name others.
writers to make any considerable use of the government
o( Pre ideni Jurtin Winsor at the opening session of the American His-
o ton, Ha) ix, [887), in joint session with the American Economic Association.
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 21
archives were Gordon and Ramsay. Gordon solicited access to Washing-
ton's papers in vain, till the government had opened to him its own ar-
chives, so anxious was Washington that no use should be made of his pa-
pers till the government judged the proper time had come to throw open
its documentary stores. Ramsay availed himself of his membership of Con-
gress to make his own use of them an easy one. Both of these early writers
had done their work, when a fire in the War Department in 1800 destroyed
some portion of the papers in its keeping. The capture of Washington
City by the British in 18 14 was accompanied by destruction of papers more
or less severe in the War, Navy, and Treasury Departments, and the Treas-
ury again suffered in 1833. Fortunately the Department of State has es-
caped such perils and it has been the principal depository of the historical
records of the government, ever since the first Congress, by an act approved
in September, 1789, made it responsible for the safe custody of " the acts,
records and seal of the United States."
We may trace the beginning of a general interest in the preservation of
our national muniments to the labors and influence of three men — Jared
Sparks, Peter Force, and George Bancroft — the last still with us, and the
occupant of this chair at our last meeting. Of the two that are gone I may
speak freely. The skill and industry which marked the efforts of Colonel
Force in his pioneer work was of the utmost importance to American his-
tory. His sharp eye went wandering over the country, and his eager hand
was laid, almost always effectively, wherever his eye had penetrated. His
scouring was none too soon. The actors in the Revolutionary struggle were
not all dead. Their children had not lost all the enthusiasm for the story
which recollections of personal participancy had enforced with the telling.
The time had come for one who could garner, and Colonel Force was such
a collector as a pioneer in such things almost always is — an amasser, who fails
sometimes in observing proportions, and particularly in the comprehension
of the value of authentication. A few timely words, a mere reference or
a jotting or two of explanation, could Force have given them in the great
collection which he began, would have saved his successors in historical
studies an infinitude of trouble, and would have enabled them to judge of
the value of his documents, and to have pursued their verification. With-
out such intimation and guidance, the great collection upon which his en-
ergy was bestowed must stand to-day too often questionable and uncer-
tain. This was Force's failure — a failure arising from a paramount eager-
ness to save, with too little concern to authenticate; a failure that comes
too naturally to workers in a new field, where the very act of finding seems
authentication enough.
22 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The failure oi Sparks, with all his great and manifold usefulness to his
time, was akin to that of Force. He did not err, as Force had done, in
neglecting to tell us whence he drew his material; but he did fail in not
giving it to us as he found it. I cannot now go into the details of the con-
troversy with Lord Mahon, from which Sparks emerged with no dishonor
but with the necessary acknowledgment that had he thought more upon
the objections of his critics, he might have avoided the occasion of their
criticism. That Sparks did not treat historical material as we would treat
it to-day is because he was a pioneer in the work, one who was too much
occupied in clearing the field always to judge fitly what should be spared.
If we, in our time, are scrupulous to mark the signs of the fracture,
when we break an historical document into fragments, it is because we rec-
ognize that the value of what we omit may have some significance to
others, reading with a different purpose than the one which controls us in
our writing — but this did not occur to Sparks; nor to Marshall, his prede-
cess >r — weightier judgments, doubtless, than many have who question
their custom now ; but the experience of later days must pass in some
things as of sounder value than even such judgments.
The more I study the character of Washington the more I find of that
supreme judgment and circumspection which was his distinguishing trait,
which so well accounts for most of what he was and of what he did ; and
yet we can hardly approve that judgment when he applied it to his own
writings. We know that after he had gone through the experiences of the
Revolution, and had modified his perceptions by the light of those exper-
iences, he sat down to refashion the correspondence of the French War, and
give it the form in which he wished it to go down to posterity ; and it is
this redrafting, under the oversight of maturer years, that we read to-day
as his record of those young days, when he fought with Braddock and de-
fended the passes of the Alleghanies. Would we not rather have the
record as he wrote it, with all its racy immaturity?
It was an easy thing for Sparks, sixty years ago, without the prompt-
ing of the experience which we enjoy, to fall into the belief that what
Washington had done himself for his earlier letters, his editor should do
for the later ones. I fear that all of us would have done the same under
the critical influences which prevailed then, but which have now disap.
peared. Yet it must be acknowledged that in the general apprehension,
at least, the extent to which this rectifying or changing the text of Wash-
ington was carried by Sparks has been exaggerated. That it was done too
often is evident, according to our later standards. We have learned that
bad spelling or a solecism in grammar may have a significance in certain
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 23
environments. I am glad to notice that Mr. Bigelow, in the preface to his
new edition of Franklin, while looking upon Sparks' method as question-
able, is free to confess that his own editorial success must be assured, if he
makes no more serious mistakes than characterized his predecessor.
One needs only to scan the many scores of bound volumes of manu-
scripts, which constitute the collection called by Sparks' name at Cambridge,
to appreciate the range and variety of research which characterized Sparks
as an historical student.
It is about sixty years since these three distinguished students to whom
I have referred began to make those preparations which have so fruitfully
affected the study of American history, and Sparks was, by a few years,
the leader of them. History in, and pertaining to, America had up to
that time accomplished no signal work. We may trace the true historical
sense for the first time in Thomas Hutchinson ; and in the interval of
another sixty years, which followed the publication of his MassacJiusctts
Bay, and extended to the date when Sparks and Force and Bancroft were
making ready for a new era, we can hardly find an historical writer whose
insight and breadth of learning gave token of more than a transient value,
unless possibly we except Marshall, whose Life of Washington deserves
more of credit in these days than it has. Its width of research was narrow
compared with what would be essential now ; and its style has few attrac-
tions; but for access to the best resources within his reach, for a discrim-
inating use of them, and for a judgment that prefigured the decisions of
posterity, his book is still greatly worthy of study.
Of the other writers of those same sixty years, Ramsay was the best,
decidedly, in a literary sense, and for a long time Ramsay was in his mat-
ter the best exemplar of the American side of the Revolutionary struggle
which our English critics could cite. Gordon was fussy, timid, and incon-
siderate, though his nearness to the events and his acquaintance with the
actors gave his book a value on some points where lack of information
exists. The work of Mercy Warren, not published till she was past three-
score, was that of a woman quick to see, sensitive to the peculiarities of
the actors of a contest which she had known, and who in its earlier stages
had been in fact a part of it. Beyond what this implies, her book was far
from learned in its details, and not free from a sort of posterior judgment,
as John Adams rather too emphatically made known.
We can only judge what we have lost, when Adams himself failed to
carry out in his retirement a purpose which he professed at one time to
have cherished — of writing the history of the Revolution. He would cer-
tainly have made it incumbent on all future writers to follow him with
24 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
caution, and to qualify his vigorous judgments with the opinions of more
moderate men ; but as a contribution to our knowledge of the men and of
the motives o\ factions, it is hard to conceive of anything which could have
taken the place of any history which he would have written.
The only publication of an historic nature during this period from Hutch-
inson to the new era, which, on the whole, we may find the least fault with,
is the Annals of Abiel Holmes — not, indeed, that it rises to the highest
import of historical writing, but for fidelity, research, and good judgment,
a model then and a model now, for the writing of history in a simple, chron-
ological sequence.
I have taken this hasty survey of the writing of American history during
this formative period preceding the coming of Sparks and his compeers, in
order to see what effect it all had on the historic spirit, as affecting the care
of manuscripts. Without multiplying instances, the fates of the Hutchin-
son and Trumbull papers are at once suggested.
The papers of Jonathan Trumbull, of Connecticut, were, in the main,
such as accrued on his hands as the executive of that State, and they are
some of the most important of such papers elucidating the history of the
Revolution; for Connecticut stood in close relations to the army on the
Hudson, on the one hand, and was contiguous to the posts held by the
British at New York, and to Newport, the successive post of the English
and of the French auxiliaries, on the other hand. There seems to have
been no doubt in the mind of Trumbull that the papers were his to dispose
of as he thought best, and it appears to have been his intention to deposit
them in some public library. Trumbull died without carrying out this
purpose, and his heirs, in 1794, determined to proceed in accordance with
such intention. The Massachusetts Historical Society, the earliest of all
such associations among us, had just been formed for the express purpose
of collecting, preserving, and publishing our historical records; and to the
heirs of the Connecticut governor, and to all others, so far as we now have
any evidence, it seemed the most natural thing to place these papers in the
custody of that society. It was accordingly done, creating a trust. The
fact that the papers were accepted, that no comments were made upon
their acceptance, and that the claims of the archives of the State as a fitter
place were not mentioned, must be taken apparently as showing that the
general sentiment of the time was to the effect that the public custody was
not necessary for papers which were not needed for administrative refer-
ence. The sequel of this history is well known. When the public views
changed, and it came to be held that the public custody was the fitter
for such papers, the State of Connecticut made an equitable claim on that
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 25
society for its own archives. The statute of limitations and the sacredness
of an assumed trust were the reasons given, for declining to make the resti-
tution. It does not seem probable that such reasons can ultimately prevail.
The story of Governor Hutchinson's papers is a more complicated one.
You will* recall that when the mob, in August, 1765, sacked the governor's
house in Boston, his papers were scattered in the streets during a wet
night, and we may still see on some of them the stains of the Boston mud
of that day, as we turn their leaves in the Boston State House. These
papers, as he says, included not only those which he had been for years
collecting, in his capacity as historian, but also such as were public papers
of contemporary origin, then in his custody. Through the assiduity of the
Rev. Andrew Eliot, most of them were gathered up from the pavement,
and restored to the governor, so that they all passed into that final collec-
tion which was seized after the governor's flight in 1774, and thus became,
public and private papers together, the property of the State ; and in the
possession of the State they all remained until 1821. At that date, a Sec-
retary of the Commonwealth, himself a historical writer, Alden Bradford,
separated from these papers such as he deemed no part of the secretary's
files, and with the governor's approval presented them to, or deposited
them with — for both phrases are used — the Massachusetts Historical
Society. Twenty-five years later, another Secretary of the Commonwealth,
and a historical writer of greater prominence, Dr. Palfrey, took another
view of the matter, more in accordance with the later opinions on the sub-
ject, and demanded their return. For another twenty-five years the dis-
pute between the State and the society was intermittent. The same
arguments of limitatory statutes, and of a trust created, with complica-
tions arising from the possibility or probability of other papers, acquired
earlier, being at that time bound with them, kept the settlement in abey-
ance, till both parties agreed to a reference, and the State won.
The conclusions from these two conspicuous instances are patent.
Down to the time when a new historical spirit began to be operative under
the impulse given by Sparks and his compeers, and even upon the very
verge of it, as instanced in the case of Alden Bradford, there was no clear
perception, in the general or official mind, of the right to the possession of
public muniments being vested in government. Since that day there has
been no conspicuous departure from the principle, which is now generally
recognized, that to the office and not to the incumbent belong public
papers. At the same time, there must of necessity be a good deal of
shadowiness about the line of division between what an officer may keep
and what he must surrender.
26 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The epoch, then, which is made by the advent of this famous trio of his-
torical students, now about sixty years ago, is the one back of which there
is much need of research to ascertain the available resources for historical
study, and. in the present condition of things, there is much that is very
unsatisfactory. There has, indeed, been much done, but more action is
needed. The general government has, on the whole, done well. To the
papers, which came to the Department of State from the antecedent commit-
tees and officers of the Continental Congress and of the Confederation, the
authorities at Washington have added some of the most important papers
which under the old customs had been left in personal hands, together
with other papers fitly private. Such are the Washington papers, upon
which Sparks has done for us such conspicuous service. Upon these, as
well as upon all others of Washington's, wherever found, Congress would
do well to devote, for the complete publication, a necessary portion of its
surplus revenue, for the time has come when such a monument is due from
the country to its greatest character.
Hardly of less importance are the acquisitions made by the State De-
partment of the papers of Madison, Monroe. Jefferson, Hamilton, and,
latest of all, its redeeming from pawn the used and unused manuscripts of
Franklin.
It is also owing to the action of government that we are to-day enabled,
in the library of Congress, to consult the papers of Rochambeau, and other
miscellanies to the extent of about 5,000 pieces, as Senator Hoar showed,
in a paper on the resources for historical study in Washington, which he
read before the American Antiquarian Society, a year or two since.
At the same time the government has not bought all it should, though
due allowance must of course be made for a natural hesitancy, when, on
the part of the possessors of such papers, the demands for payment have
been over large. Such, perhaps, was the case in the offers which were made
of the papers of General Greene, about which I spent a considerable time
lately, in endeavoring to find their present resting-place in Georgia, and, if my
letters have not miscarried, there is no eagerness at present to give any in-
formation respecting them. There is certainly among the military leaders
of the Revolution no other to dispute with Greene a second place to
Washington ; and it is not altogether creditable that the government does
not possess the papers of the greatest of the generals of Washington.
In considering the condition of Revolutionary manuscripts, not in the
possession of the general government, we may regard them as of three
kinds — those in the archives of the State authorities, those in the cabinets
of institutions, and those in private hands. It will not be necessary to
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 2J
consider any but the most conspicuous collections, though from inquiries
which I have instituted in various parts of the country, I feel sure there
are many minor collections about which we would do well to know more.
First, as respects the thirteen original States. Massachusetts has spent
largely upon her archives, and they are still under the supervision of com-
missioners spending a yearly grant. I believe her records to be the most ex-
tensive and most valuable of all the States, as they certainly extend, in any
considerable amount, farther back into the past. But Massachusetts has
done far less than New York, either in printing her archives, or in adding to
them by copies from foreign repositories. A series of transcripts from the
French archives, relating mainly to the French and Indian wars, made for
the State by Ben : Perley Poore, are the only accessions of this nature to
her muniments. New Hampshire has set Massachusetts a good example,
by the assiduity with which she is printing her records, though it must be
borne in mind that the lesser extent of those in New Hampshire renders
the task a much easier one. Such of the Revolutionary papers of New
Hampshire as were carried off to Nova Scotia by her last royal governor,
and are now at Halifax, she has, I believe, taken measures to have copied.
Rhode Island and Connecticut are also printing what they have with com.
mendable fullness, though Connecticut naturally finds a considerable hiatus
in her Revolutionary records by the absence of the Trumbull papers.
New York has done nobly in the care of her archives. She has acted
wisely, as I think, in taking them out of the custody of a political officer
like the Secretary of the State, and in placing them in the keeping of a
ready-made commission, like the Regents of the so-called University of
the State of New York, with a trained officer in charge. If we do not
owe much to the visionary enthusiasm of Alexander Vattemare, it is satis-
factory to place to his credit the instigation which he gave to the New
York authorities to take better care of their archives, when he brought to
their attention the fact that he had observed the porters of the capitol use
the State's old records to wrap for transportation the legislative documents
of a later day. This is said to have been the incentive which led to the
employment of Brodhead and O'Callaghan to do their work upon the
records of New York, which has placed historical students under such
great obligations.
To New York, too, belongs the credit, more than to any other State,
of having thoroughly and systematically drawn upon the archives of
Europe — England, France, and Holland, in her case — to add to the inter-
est of her own accumulations ; and to her. too, is the credit, which belongs,
I think, to no other State, of having purchased any considerable mass of
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
papers from private hands, as she did when she acquired the papers of
Governor George Clinton.
New [ersey is doing well, both in the publication of the New Jersey
Archives^ and in the assiduous efforts which Mr. Stryker, her Adjutant
General, is making to render her Revolutionary history complete.
Neither has Pennsylvania been sparing of pains in the arranging and
printing of her documentary history. Maryland has transferred her his-
torical papers to the care of her Historical Society, and, under the super-
vision of able editors, she is putting her records beyond the risk of acci-
dent in print. The archives of Virginia have suffered much, both from
the raid of Arnold during the Revolution, and from the hazards of the late
war. Something has been done to gather such as are left, and Mr,
William Wirt Henry writes to me, that in his studies for the Life of
Patrick Hairy, he has found that a good deal is preserved, after all these
mischances. The Carolinas have each drawn to some extent from the
London State Paper Office to supplement their own records ; but it does
not seem clear, from all the information which I can reach, that in the
burning of Columbia, during Sherman's march, the archives were saved,
though such was believed to be the case at the time, and that the last -of
the wagons containing them left the town as the Federal army approached.
I have mentioned that in Maryland the State has made the Historical
Society the depository of its historical archives ; and I think this is the
only one of the original thirteen States which has taken this step. The
measure has certainly much to commend it, when we consider that the
transitoriness of our public service carries much of danger to the accumu-
lations of archives. That this danger is not small would seem to be the
case from the fact that in no instance, as far as I can learn, have the pos-
sessors of papers of public interest been prompted to make the State the
guardian of them, while in various cases public libraries and historical
societies have been by preference chosen. Indeed without the help to be
derived from the deposits in such places, and from those public or semi-
public papers in private hands, it would be quite impossible to tell the
whole story of the American Revolution.
There are some instances where such papers, by some method of disin-
tegration, apart from a settled purpose, have failed to be kept entire in
one deposit ; as, for instance, the Cambridge Correspondence of Washing-
ton and Joseph Reed, which is now in the Carter Brown library at Provi-
dence, got separated from the bulk of the Joseph Reed papers, which are
in the New York Historical Society; but I know of but one instance of
any significance where an accumulation of personal papers has been divided
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 29
for the purpose of increasing the chances of preservation of a part, as was
the case with the papers of Arthur Lee. This Virginian succeeded at
London, in the days before the outbreak of hostilities^ to the agency for
Massachusetts, which had been held by Dennis DeBerdt, and the papers
which had accumulated in DeBerdt's hands fell, with the office, to Lee,
and were accordingly engulfed with the large mass which also came into his
keeping during his service in Europe as a Commissioner of the Continental
Congress. In due time, after the death of Lee, and when his nephew, the
younger Richard Henry Lee, had used these papers in writing the ill-as-
sorted memoirs of the brothers, Arthur and Richard Henry Lee, it seems
to have occurred to the biographer to make three divisions of the papers
in the most haphazard sort of way, just as if they were dealt upon three
several piles, as cards are dealt, and these three piles he gave respectively
to Harvard College Library, to the American Philosophical Society in
Philadelphia, and to the University of Virginia. When those in Cambridge
■came into my custody some years ago I made inquiries for the rest. The
fragmentary character of many a sequence in what was before me made it
evident that there were gaps to be filled, if only the other depositories
could be found. When these were discovered, I was able, by the confi-
dence of the custodians of the other fractions, to bring temporarily the
three parts together, and to make clear the strange method of division
which had been followed. For instance, of the series of the deposi-
tions taken after the affairs at Lexington and Concord, which were
sent over to London to the agent of Massachusetts, some had fallen in
the deal upon the pile destined for Virginia, and others fell to Har-
vard, while to Philadelphia chanced to come other documents which
should have accompanied the whole to Cambridge. And as in this case,
so in others, though I know of no other division of papers made quite as
senselessly, among all the scattering of Revolutionary manuscripts.
Of all the semi-public depositories of Revolutionary documents, there
would seem to be the largest accumulation in Boston. There are, in the
cabinet of the Massachusetts Historical Society, the papers of Governor
Jonathan Trumbull, to which reference has already been made. There
also is the more important part of those of John Hancock, though some
of the earlier ones have finally gone to private collectors. The papers of
Josiah Quincy are not numerous, for his early death precluded any large
amassment, but such as there are, passing down from the keeping of Presi-
dent Quincy, who embodied most of them in the life of his father, to the
hands of his daughter, they, a few years since, at her death, came to the
.same society. Here also are the voluminous papers of Timothy Picker-
30 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
ing, though they relate mostly to post-Revolutionary days; but they are
deficient in the mass of papers respecting his administration of the Quar-
termaster's Department, which many years ago were strangely acquired
by a gentleman in New York State ; and fifteen years ago passed into the
archives of the War Department, where they are now lying, I fear in some
forgotten corner. Also in the same society's cabinet are the papers of
Genera] William Heath, a man who bore the distinction of having been
the nrsi general officer in the field, as directing the final pursuit of Percy
from Lexington, and also the last in immediate command in the final move-
ment of the army of the Revolution.
The papers of General Knox, the chief of the artillery of the Revolu-
tion, are also in Boston, properly enough, for here, as a bookseller's clerk,
he began his career.
In the library at Cambridge are the papers of Governor Bernard, and
a portion of those of Arthur Lee, as alread)/ explained ; as well as the
letter-book of Governor Tryon during his term in North Carolina, and the
papers of Samuel Tucker, the naval commander. At Cambridge, also, is
the most extensive series of copies of historical papers relating to Ameri-
can history, and particularly to the American Revolution, that is possessed
by any institution — that made by Sparks during his long period of study
in this field amounting to about one hundred and seventy volumes. With
them are a few originals, the most considerable of which are the papers of
Sir Francis Bernard, already referred to, and a series of characteristic
examples of the letters of all the leading characters of the Revolution,
mainly a selection from Washington's papers, which Mr. Sparks was
allowed to retain after his labors on the edition of Washington's writings
were completed.
The Revolutionary portion of Mr. Sparks' MSS. — much the most con-
siderable part — shows the large drafts made by him on every resource —
the archives of the government at Washington, those of every one of the
thirteen States, the papers of Franklin and Washington, including much
which he did not print in his edition of the latter. He also drew from all
the principal and even minor collections in private hands throughout the
country ; and he added the mass which he secured at the dispersal of the
manuscripts of George Chalmers ; the copies which he was allowed to make
in the State Paper Office in London, including particularly the diplomatic
correspondence of Grantham, Stormont, Sir Joseph Yorke, and others,
for Sparks had latterly in mind a purpose to write the diplomatic history
of the Revolution, which he was not spared to accomplish.
He also drew upon that great mass of Headquarters papers, accumu-
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
31
lated by the successive commanders-in-chief on the British side, which are
gathered in the Royal Institution, and cited indifferently as the Carleton or
Dorchester Papers— the extent of which, there is reason to believe, will
be better understood when sundry packing cases in the cellar of that build-
ing are examined, and which seem to have been forgotten till recently.
The great resource of the Haldimand Papers was acquired by the British
Museum too near the end of Sparks' active career for his collection to profit
from them ; but we owe it to the intelligent action of the Dominion Govern-
ment, and to the assiduity of the Dominion Archivist, Mr. Brymner, that
copies of the Haldimand Papers are now at Ottawa, of which we are given
an excellent key in the calendar now in course of publication by that same
officer.
It was to the kind interest of Lafayette, and later of his son, that
Sparks owed much of his opportunity of access to the archives in Paris,
and to the papers of Gerard and Luzerne. Sparks' extracts from the cor-
respondence of the French and Spanish ministry, and his transcripts of the
letters of Frederick the Great and his ambassador, touching points con-
nected with the American Revolution, are necessary to complete the
survey.
The place next in importance for the study of personal papers is New
York, for though they have the Laurens papers in the Long Island His-
torical Society, it is in the library of the New York Historical Society that
we find the papers of Gates, Charles Lee, Steuben, Joseph Reed, Stirling,
and Lamb, the New York artillerist. The history of the Stirling manuscripts
shows one of the kinds of vicissitude, arising even from an excess of care,
to which old papers are subjected. The letters of Washington among the
Stirling papers were separated to be placed in a spot of greater security,
and then forgotten. Hutchinson also tells us that some papers which he
had secreted where he thought no one would find them were forgotten
when he took his flight, and they may possibly be the ones which are said
to have been found in feather beds, at the time Hutchinson's effects were
sold.
Other collections in public institutions are not numerous. There are
the papers of Esek Hopkins, gathered during his brief career as a commo-
dore, lodged with others of less importance in the Rhode Island Historical
Society ; those of Silas Deane, in part at least, in the Connecticut Histori-
cal Society ; those of Boudinot, Shippen, and some others, in the Pennsyl-
vania Society ; those of Benjamin Rush in the Philadelphia library. This
enumeration indicates the most important masses of Revolutionary papers,
in public institutions, so far as they have been preserved.
32 MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The papers in private hands include some of the most important, and
those treasured in Massachusetts are the most extensive. Referring to the
family muniment building at Quincy, which contains the papers of the
Adamses, Dr. Hale has recently said, in the preface to his Franklin in
France: " I know of no other collection in the world, where the history of
a great nation can be so studied in the biography of one family,'' compris-
ing, as it does, the youthful observations of John Adams on the French
War. and the part played by his grandson, at the other limit, in the con-
ference at Geneva.
The latter gentleman, in editing the papers of John Adams, has said,
with probable truth, that the private papers of the first of the Adamses
most likely exceed in extent the papers of every other leading actor in the
Revolutionary struggle. We have, of course, a representative portion of
these papers in the Writings of John Adams ; but the collection possesses,
beyond what is there given, a mass of correspondence, to the publication
of which historical students are looking forward, and with confidence, when
we consider the strong historical instincts of the Adamses still among us.
I am glad to add that the younger Mr. Charles Francis Adams, who con-
siders his present engrossment with the material interests of the country as
but a temporary bar to more genuine service in historical research, has
already determined to place the great stores at Quincy in more serviceable
condition.
Of the papers of Samuel Adams, the portion which is left is in the
hands of Mr. Bancroft, who describes them as very numerous, and as un-
folding fully the manner of molding into a system the acts of resistance
to Great Britain. We know, however, that much spoliation of these
papers took place, both before and after the death of Samuel Adams.
John Adams pictures his kinsman as burning his correspondence in winter,
and as cutting it into shreds in summer, to scatter it upon the winds, so
that by no neglect of his any of his associates could be implicated, if for-
tune went against the colonies. Even from among such as were not thus
destroyed, the friends of unstable patriots were said at a later day to have
abstracted the evidences of their weakness.
The papers of James and Mercy Warren are also preserved by a de-
scendant, Mr. Winslow Warren of Dedham, and they have never been
used as they should be, though from these and from John Adams' papers,
there has been put into print a famous correspondence of John Adams
and Mercy Warren.
Of Massachusetts soldiers, the papers of General Lincoln, interlinked
with some of the most important events of the war, are still in the family
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY 33
keeping, as are those of General John Thomas, whose career was cut short
too early to allow of their being voluminous.
After Massachusetts, the most important local ownership is in New
York, where, still in the hands of descendants, are the papers of Philip
Schuyler, John Jay, and Gouverneur Morris. In the migrations of fami-
lies, and the changes of ownership, we find such personal papers scattered
widely through the land. Those of Charles Thomson, the Secretary of
the Continental Congress, are in Memphis; those of Sullivan, the New
Hampshire general, are in Boston ; those of Meschek Weare, the Gover-
nor of New Hampshire, are in New York ; those of Wilkinson are in Louis-
ville ; those of George Rogers Clark are in Wisconsin; while those of
Patrick Henry, Charles Carroll, Anthony Wayne, Caesar Rodney, and
George Read are still preserved near their homes.
The melancholy aspects of the subject are in the losses to be chronicled
of some of these personal papers, which would be of the utmost help to us.
When we consider the activity of James Otis, and the wide corres-
pondence which he maintained with gentlemen in all the colonies in the
period between 1760 and 1770, and how much was owing to him that the
preparation was advanced and ripened for the final co-operation of the
colonies, we can appreciate what v/e have lost in the destruction of his
papers, when, in one of the unhappy moments of his aberration, he com-
mitted his manuscripts to the flames. John Adams tells how a daughter
of Otis said to him that she had not a line from her father's pen. What
is left of the papers of James Bowrdoin is inconsiderable ; those of Thomas
Cushing were seized by General Gage, and have disappeared, and we know
nothing of those of Joseph Hawley — almost the only citizen of considera-
tion in Western Massachusetts who did not deliver his fortunes to the
companionship of the Loyalists. The papers of Joseph Warren were con-
sumed in the burning of a barn in Greenfield, Massachusetts. Much as we
know of the early formative days of the Revolution in its birth-place, we
can but conjecture what we have lost of the history of Massachusetts and
her relations to the other colonies at that time, in the disappearance of
such collections as these.
Only the scantiest measure remains of the papers of Francis Dana.
Those of William Whipple of New Hampshire have in the main disappeared.
What there is left of the papers of William Ellery hardly recompenses us
for the loss of the letters which his friends destroyed at his request. The
papers of Stephen Hopkins were swept away by a flood in 18 1 5, and
Rhode Island regrets how her two most eminent citizens in the Senate
are without suitable record in this way.
Vol. XVIII.-No. 1.— 3
34
MANUSCRIPT SOURCES OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Connecticut is not privileged to treasure the papers of Roger Sherman,
which in the main disappeared in a way which no one well understands.
Maryland regrets the loss at sea of those of Otho Williams. South Caro-
lina saw the burning of those of Rutledge, and only a small portion of
those of Pinckney are still known.
I would suggest in closing a method for the better preserving and
making known of what there is still left to us of the historical manu-
scripts of the country, not in places easily accessible to the student. My
purpose must be obvious to all of you who have watched the progress of
the work, as evinced in their successive reports, done by the Historical
Manuscripts Commission in England ; and I need hardly at this time
detail their method and results; but I cannot resist the conviction that
our Historical Association could do no better deed than to convince the
National legislature that something analogous, with such changes in method
and organization as the conditions of this country suggest, should be
undertaken before it is too late, and I shall be glad if some discussion to
that end may be entered upon. I may add, in conclusion, that I am pre-
pared to place in the hands of a committee some details of the workings
of their methods, which have been sent to me by Mr. Maxwell Lyte, of
the Rolls House, the director of the service of the English Commission.
ONE DAY'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
AND SOME OF ITS CONSEQUENCES
In the year 1843 the territory west of 100 degrees west longitude, and
south of the Arkansas River was recognized as belonging to Mexico ; our
territory extended on both sides of the river to that degree ; but beyond,
the Arkansas became our southern and western boundary. Through the
great Wilderness, on both sides of the boundary, lay the route of an inter-
national commerce — with Santa Fe, New Mexico, for its first objective —
of sufficient importance to become, in that year, the subject of diplomacy ;
Mexico proposed military escorts ; our government assenting, proposed
that the escorts should be free to pass the boundary when necessary for
protection ; for the wide uninhabited region was infested by nomadic
tribes, Comanches and others, savage and hostile. ^C} "S K \
The occurrences to be related here were scarcely noticed by the press.
That was not the day of correspondents, nor of telegraphy ; a remarkable
event happening in that remote " desert," as it was then called, would
almost certainly escape notice ; and there were political motives for the
administration to minimize its importance and publicity — if it could not
disapprove — the action of its military commander, certainly very offensive
to Texas; for it was unluckily coincident with eager negotiation for the
annexation of that country.
Texas had asserted a claim that the Rio Grande, from mouth to source,
was their southern and western boundary. And Van Zant, their minister
to Washington, hastened to make bitter complaint of the disarmament of
their national force — and as greatly aggravated by its occurrence in their
own country (not in Mexico).
The administration saw new light — turned a sharp corner: My instruc-
tions recognized the Arkansas as the Mexican boundary ; but, a few
months after the occurrence, a Court of Inquiry was convened at Fort
Leavenworth to inquire whether the Texan force had been disarmed in our
territory, or in Texas ! and whether their treatment had been " harsh and
unbecoming" ?
Captain Cooke's regiment of Dragoons was detached from Fort Leaven-
worth in command of three of its troops, and two mountain howitzers to
protect a large caravan, of which the merchants were both American and
Mexican ; his instructions included a copy of a note from the Secretary of
$6 ONE day's work of a captain of dragoons
State, Daniel Webster, to the Mexican minister, informing him that an
escort should not " pass one foot " beyond the boundary — which was
understood to result from an ungracious reply to the proposition above
mentioned.
Captain Cooke was also instructed to forward with his report an official
diary.
The "day" was June 30, 1843, and the work began, really, at sunrise;
of the main action I shall simply quote the official record, written before I
slept that night. It was " muster and inspection " day ; and my inspection
was careful. The record omits mention of a magnificent buffalo chase, in
which I indulged, very soon after the march began. I was mounted on a
noble thoroughbred, and it happened that at one time I was closely sur-
rounded, in the very midst of about a thousand of the grand beasts, rush-
ing at their greatest speed !
"June 30.— Clustered and inspected the detachment at 6 o'clock;
marched at 8 o'clock. After marching four or five miles I came in view of
three horsemen about 1200 paces ahead, who, I concluded, must be Texans.
I forthwith sent a sergeant with six troopers in pursuit ; he returned in
about twenty minutes, and reported that he had followed without gaining
on them until they joined a large force " on a lake " ; and he had left his
party in observation. I ordered him to guide us, and marched at the
trot : — ordering the baggage to follow at usual gait, under charge of the rear
guard. After proceeding thus a short time, I saw from the verge of the
bluff the Arkansas River a mile off, and soon perceived a considerable force
of men and horses about an unusual fine grove on the opposite bank; they
raised, as I drew nearer, a white flag ; I then sent a lieutenant * with a
trumpeter and flag to cross the river, instructing him to demand of their
commander who they were, and what they did there; and to give him, or
any one he might send, safe conduct over and back. (Also to observe their
numbers, the surroundings, etc., and particularly whether the river could
be forded by the detachment, suggesting his return at a different place,
from his crossing over.) While he was gone, I arrived, formed line, and
dismounted at the river. I called the officers together ; and to my question
all but two answered that they believed the Texans opposite were within
our boundary; the two professed to be quite ignorant on the subject. I
then said, " Gentlemen, you all perhaps would agree that if that force is in
the United States, it is my duty to disarm them ; now I put you the ques-
tion : ' With what little doubt of the fact there may be on your minds, do
* Since General John Love of Indianapolis, not long since deceased.
ONE DAY'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS 37
you advise me, or not, to disarm those men, forcibly if necessary ? ' Lieu-
tenant Mason, Lieutenant Bowman, Captain Terrett, and Lieutenant Love
— after he returned — answered in the affirmative. One officer had been
engaged, in preparing fuses for the howitzer shells ; he came as the vote-
was being taken, and declined the responsibility of advising. Two officers
preferred, before answering, to see their commanding officer.
Lieutenant Love, returning then, was accompanied by Colonel Snively
and his " Aid," Mr. Spencer.* After salutations I said: ' Sir, it is the
belief of myself and officers that you are in the United States ; what is
your business here? What force have you ? (and afterward) Have you
a commission ? '
He replied that he commanded a Texan volunteer force of 107 men,
and believed them to be in Texas. He then produced as his commission
the following document, which I read aloud to the officers:
Department of War and Marine,
To Colonel Jacob Snively, Washington, 16 February, 1843.
Sir,
Your communication of the 28th ult. soliciting permission from the Government to or-
ganize and fit out an expedition for the purpose of intercepting and eapturing the property
of the Mexican traders who may pass through the territory of the republic, to and from
Santa Fe, &c. has been received and laid before his excellency, the President ; and he, after
a careful consideration of the subject, directs that such authority be granted you, upon
the terms and conditions herein expressed — that is to say —
You are hereby authorized to organize such a force, not exceeding three hundred men,
as vou may deem necessary to the achievement of the object proposed. The expedition
will be strictly partizan ; the troops to compose the corps to mount, equip and provision
themselves at their own expense ; and one-half of all the spoils taken in honorable warfare
to belong to the republic, and the government to be at no expense whatever, on account
of the expedition.
The force may operate in any portion of the territory of the republic, above the line of
settlements and between the Rio del Norte and the boundary line of the United States ;
but will be careful not to infringe upon the Territory of that Government.
As the object of the expedition is to retaliate and make reclamation for injuries sus-
tained by Texian citizens, the merchandize and all other property of all Mexican citizens
will be lawful prize ; and such as may be captured will be brought into Red River ; one-
half of which will be deposited in the custom house of that District subject to the order
of the Government, and the other half will belong to the captors, to be equally divided
between the officers and men ; an agent will be appointed to assist in the division.
The result of the campaign will be reported to the Department upon the disbandon-
ment of the force, and also its progress from time to time, if practicable.
By order of the President.
(Signed) M. C. Hamilton,
actg. Secy, of War & Marine.
* Son of Mr. Spencer, of New York, then Secretary of War.
38
ONE DAY S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
After some conversation I again called aside all the officers, but one ;
we were seated on the grass, and after some remarks, I put the question —
• Should I disarm the Texans, shedding blood if they make it necessary ? '
but, added I should not consider myself bound by their advice — or vote.
Lieutenant Love and Captain Terrett responded ' Yes ! ' Lieuten-
ants Mason and Bowman and Captain Moore ' No ! '
The majority was for inaction ; and I paused in thought — but not long.
I had been in the country before, escorting a caravan ; I knew that the
common opinion placed the boundary somewhat west of this point ; and
the governments having, and for very long, neglected to mark the line, I
believed my forced decision would be safest in following public opinion in
the matter, which no previous occurrence had biased. I thought a civil-
ized government should scarcely recognize such a document, which, with
no indication of customary forms of military organization, outrages the
rules of modern warfare: and, excepting necessary supplies, forbids the
appropriation or destruction of private property on land. I believed the
force opposite to be a ruffian crew of out-cast Americans ; but that it was
necessary perhaps to treat them as the accredited military force of an ac-
knowledged independent government.
With an audible ' I will do it/ on my part, we arose and resumed the
interview with the Texans. In a conversational tone, I said to them :
' Gentlemen, your detachment is in the United States; as the governments
have not surveyed and marked the boundary, I deem it my duty to follow
the common opinion that our western line strikes the river near the caches,
to our West ; some think, as far up as Chouteau Island. Now the ac-
credited writers on National law agree that no belligerent's army has a
right to enter a neutral's territory, there to lie in wait, or there to refresh
itself, afterward to sally out for any manner of attack upon its enemy.
That it is the neutrals right and duty in such cases to disarm the intruders.
I happen to remember a precedent, of the Polish revolution of 1830, when
a large Polish force passed the Austrian frontier, and they were disarmed,
and made to march from the country at another point. And I found some
of your men acting against the caravan, as spies or scouts, in our undis-
puted territory ; and see yonder ! some of your men are now crossing to
the south side.
Now Colonel Snively I demand that your men come across, and lay
down their arms before me ; then, as you say you are in need of provisions,
I will return to you six guns — enough for buffalo hunting; and you shall
have permission also to enter our settlements.
I have one hundred and eighty-five soldiers; and two howitzers— which
ONE DAY'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS 39
can throw shells into the grove ; inspect them if you please ; I treat you as
imprudent friends — my course is legal; it will not be dishonorable to sur-
render— you should do so at the demand of a civil magistrate — I should
make it the same, had I only ten men. But, of course, I shall enforce my
demand ; go over to your command, who you say you doubt will obey you
— and I will give you one hour to begin crossing ; if any leave the grove in
an opposite direction, I shall instantly open fire with the howitzers, drive
you from the woods, and attack you in the plain.'
Colonel Snively and his aid then attempted to argue against my course ;
they said National law allowed the pursuit of an enemy ' twenty miles into
a neutral's territory ; they had lately seen two or three thousand indians,
whom they feared, etc' They also made several propositions, only, I
thought, to get their men out of my power ; one was that I should send an
officer over to see that they were near a starving condition. They said
that seventy-five of their force becoming dissatisfied, had started for home
three days before. Snively said he had given them an order, to save them
from being treated as banditti !
They said they had attacked one hundred Mexicans ten days before,
about twenty miles west of the caches ; [who were armed with ' new Brit-
ish muskets '] they killed eighteen and wounded as many, taking the rest
prisoners ; but had afterward liberated them, giving them back twenty
muskets. Snively admitted that his spies had gone as far as Walnut
Creek (seventy-five miles back on our road) ; but said that he had nearly
resolved to return to Texas, convinced that the caravan had turned back.
I had taken it for granted that his party could and would ford the
river directly in my front — where Mr. Love had first crossed ; but I now
learned that it had swam his horse; and the Texan officers were about
to go down near a mile to where they had crossed with Mr. Love.
This seemed to me rather risky — so I proposed that I should march my
force over with them. They both cheerfully assented — they even seemed
pleased with it.
I now sent a messenger to meet the caravan, with information, and a
warning ; ordered the guard to remain with the baggage ; and a wagon to
be emptied and to follow the squadrons; the howitzer ammunition boxes
were water-tight. Then I marched, the Texans with me in front.
About five hundred yards below, I had the edge of the square bank
spaded off, and sent in a trumpeter to try the water ; he went instantly out
of depth in water and quicksand ; and he and his horse were with diffi-
culty extricated. Then I marched further, until I apprehended losing
the mastery of the situation; then, again spading the bank, and command-
ONE DAY'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
ing ' Forward," I gave spurs to my horse, who leaped in, followed by the
battery. The river was about three hundred yards wide, and there was
almost a gale up stream ; the rough muddy water had a dangerous look.
Fortunately 1 had hit a shallower place ; and we all straggled on, every
man avoiding to follow another whom he saw in a bad place ; we reached
shore a mere crowd! but very soon were marching in perfect order ; and
line was formed facing the grove, about one hundred and fifty paces out.
[I had at times on the prairie march practiced formations in 'line of
battle,' which now proved very convenient.] The battery was unlimbered
and slow matches lit.
Colonel Snively had sent his aid, the moment we had crossed, to in-
duce the men to submit ; they were paraded ; and I waited possibly half
an hour, Snivel}' with us from choice. I now required him to go, and
send his men to lay down their arms in my front. He complied, saying he
* would return to me if alive,' that he would have nothing more to do with
them. My demand was soon complied with. I had advanced Captain
Terrett — sabres drawn — to superintend the surrender ; and then some
rear rank men. second squadron, to discharge the arms and place them
in the wagon, which was ready.
These rude Texans, evidently with no discipline, and uncontrolled, were
very clamorous, made many demands ; they submitted with a very bad
grace to my exhibition of force, which had been in no degree too stern
and threatening. Some of them tried to step off, armed, up the river,
and to the sand hills, only three or four hundred paces back. I had them
seized, and a picket placed on the hill. Captain Terrett was sent to scout
the grove thoroughly. A murder had been committed, they said, just as
I had arrived that morning, and Snively said they ' must keep guns
enough to shoot the murderer that evening ! ' The Texans ' packed '
their baggage ; they had no wagon.
I now marched back, crossing at the same place. I met on the north
bank my messenger, who reported the caravan two miles off; I wrote a
note, on my horse, and sent him back; it gave the news and instruction
to come and camp near me. Just then two buffaloes appeared coming
from the bluff in our front; I sent a sergeant, who first saw buffaloes
under my command, with my muzzle-loading Harper's Ferry pistol, and he
killed them both, in sight and very near! A great feat !
I camped on the bank opposite the grove; soon after, the caravan came
from the hills and corraled near by.
It was not long before a man came much exhausted from swimming
the river, with a message that the Mexicans were in sight about to attack
ONE DAYS WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS 4r
them; I sent a note to Snively telling him if it were true, to cross the
river below me and I would defend him. As there was much stir and
confusion round the camp, I sounded to horse. Soon I received a message-
that it was a false alarm. Then I received a note, which I copy :
Capt. Cooke, Dr. Sir, The man who was wounded when I visited your camp is ex-
piring ; it will be impossible to remove him at present. If you could send a company to
guard us this night I would consider myself under many obligations. Very respectfully
your obt. Servt., (Signed) J. Snively.
I returned answer that there was no danger, and I. could not comply;
that they might come over, leaving a small party hid in the grove.
Now a committee of merchants called on me to discuss the situation.
One of them said I ought to have 'slaughtered them all.' And at first
they seemed uneasy, and dissatisfied that their enemies should go free. It
had been ascertained that their division and separation had occurred yes-
terday; that the statement that it was * three days ago ' was false.
The merchants left me at dark, apparently contented.
At 10 o'clock, after sixteen hours of work, incessant and exciting, until
dark, with no thought of food, I go to rest, well satisfied that, under cir-
cumstances of great responsibility, I have done my duty in the trust con.
fided to me.
The following morning the Texans rode over, and I addressed them,
from horseback ; a large portion then accepted my offer of escort, and
the others departed, homeward, they said. I left a troop in camp with
them, and part of my baggage, and marched with the caravan, several days,
to the crossing, and, seeing them safely over, returned. The homeward
march was uneventful and pleasant ; the Texans gave some trouble, and, I
believe, plotted much more ; I sent them adrift at the first settlements.
We arrived at Fort Leavenworth, our home, early in August."
General Gaines, commanding in the West, a great enthusiast for his
age, seemed determined that I should undisputably cross that boundary.
He wrote me the following letter:
,, -^ n Hd- 0rs> Saint Louis, M°- August 21, 1843
My Dear Captain * ' & » *m
Understanding that the principal merchants of Santa Fe, in whose behalf the Mexican
Minister at Washington solicited your present command, were apprehensive you would
not go with them further than the Arkansas river ; I have to request you to see these
Merchants and assure them of your authority and determination to afford them protection
until they shall meet a competent escort, or until they shall reach Santa Fe. Assure them
of our determination to protect them at all hazards ; — and if in the discharge of this duty
you should find rough ox perilous work, the meritorious services of your officers and your
men and yourself, shall be affectionately remembered by every true hearted Soldier and
4-
ONE DAY S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
Statesman of our country, and more especially of these great and growing States of the
Valley of the Mississippi, and more especially of your General and friend
Edmund P. Gaines.
Postscript
1 enclose for your information and government a printed cop*/ of my letter to General
Taylor — which was intended to cover the whole ground from Independence to Santa F€.
Signed E. P. G.
Of the postscript, something more a little further on.
Accordingly, I marched again from Fort Leavenworth about Septem-
ber 1st. with nearly the same command. Unfortunately, this September,
1843. proved the wettest of my experience; the unwieldy caravan was
almost stopped by the soft road ; it was very cold, and many poor drivers
and Mexican servants died. I hoped to escort the caravan to a safe point,
and then be in time to return home before the grass was spoiled. But
General Gaines had ordered a contract made with Mr. Bent — of Bent's
Fort, a fortified trading-house on the Upper Arkansas — for our winter sup-
plies ; and he overtook me, September 23d, at Jackson Grove, bringing ten
wagon loads; and it seemed necessary to give him then a required notice
effecting some further large purchases ; but, on my part, properly contin-
gent upon still undetermined circumstances. This was very embarrassing;
my future actions were really in a sense dependent upon the merchants;
to leave them before they were satisfied that there was no more danger
might lead to results probably more nearly ruinous to me than to them.
The great difficulty of the situation lay in the subsistence of horses
and draft-mules. In those economical days we never took forage with us
in our prairie marches; and the Arkansas grass — that low down, like that
of our nearer prairies — becomes utterly innutritive after a few hard frosts.
It was October 4th that, while I was making our night camp on the
river bank, a messenger brought me news of the arrival, at the crossing, a
few miles above, of a Mexican army escort !
The caravan was then well up to the front ; so next morning leaving
my baggage, I marched to the crossing ; as I approached the Mexicans
saddled and mounted. I sent my adjutant over with greetings, and an in-
vitation to their officers to spend the day with us. The commander de-
clined, saying pointedly, that he had been ordered on no account to cross
the boundary.
As soon as the caravan was over, I mounted and then, as a kind of
salute fired a round from the howitzer battery ; the shells were directed, in
ricochet down a fine reach of the river, and after many beautiful rebounds
exploded under water. I then marched back to camp.
It had now come to light that the published letter of General Gaines,
ONE DAYS WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
43
mentioned in his postscript, had been sent home by the Mexican minister ;
and that the Mexican President — Santa Anna — had then sent by fast
couriers to Santa Fe orders to dispatch immediately an escort to meet the
caravan on the Arkansas. They were just in good time.
There was now, of course, no choice but to march home, although Oc-
tober 6 was dangerously late for the animals. But great pains were
taken ; after the grass was spoiled, the men chopped it with their knives,
and mixed feeds with what flour could possibly be spared for their horses,
and they liberally shared with them their blankets at night. The last half
of the march the horses were led much more than ridden. I had sent an
express for corn, and we began to meet wagon loads several nights before
the end.
Some animals were left to rest and recruit — and corn sent to them at
Council Grove, and at another thick wooded creek bottom nearer home,
and these the only two in the hundreds of miles. They were all turned
loose to rest and graze and browse for thirty-six hours.
And so we reached home, and through a snow or two, with very little
loss.
The rations sent for me were ordered to be stored at Bent's Fort, and
were almost forgotten. But two years after the regiment on return march
from the South Pass (of the Rocky Mountains), its commander. Colonel S.
W. Kearny, turned South at Fort Laramie to the Arkansas far above Bent's
Fort, and he calculated so confidently on the safety, and the good condi-
tion, too, of the stores in that dry mountain air, and so closely, that we
arrived there quite out of provisions.
He judged aright in all. The Colonel made a camp at " Jackson Grove,"
for the purpose of taking observations for longitude and deciding the ques-
tion of two years before. They were taken by Lieutenant — now General
Wm. B. Franklin, of Rhode Island. And he found to my gratification,
that the spot was some three minutes (miles) east of the ioo° line so far
within our boundary.
The Texans, whom I had disarmed, were reported to have met with
disasters from faults of their own. Certain it is that they and their friends
kept alive very bitter and revengeful feelings toward their captor. Ten
years after, when stationed about half a year in Texas, in a night meeting,
held near my post, some of them were accidentally overheard to consult,
and to resolve upon my assassination.
In 1848, returning from the war in Mexico, I was at a hotel in New
Orleans. I was in ill health, and, being in my room in the evening, a card
was sent up to me ; it was from Mr. " Colcohoun of Texas."
44 ONE DAY'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
I fancied it a case of not exactly " pistols for two," — for I had none at
hand. The servant was told to show him up. Presently he entered and
addressed me : " Captain Cooke, I have for years been looking out for
you ;" (I thought that hardly ambiguous, but saw that he was a gentleman)
" to shake you by the hand." he continued, " and thank you for my re-
lease from a Mexican prison — as well as other Texans ; you probably
saved our lives."
He explained, in brief, that he had been a member of a body of Texans
who attempted a revolutionary invasion of Mexico about 1 841. They
reached Mier, but there they were all killed or captured ; the prisoners
were immured in the fortress of Perote (which I had then lately inspected),
and were there long subjected to cruel and degrading treatment. Our
Minister, Waddy Thompson, he said, repeatedly interceded for them, but
the President was obdurate. But after news of the saving of the Mexican
caravan and the capture of the Texans had reached Mexico, Mr. Thomp-
son was hopeful to make one more appeal in their behalf. He sought an
interview with President Santa Anna; he was warmly received, and the
President, almost anticipating his business and request, promised the
prompt release of the prisoners ; of the affair on the Arkansas he said em-
phatically it was " the first act of good faith and friendship that the United
States had ever shown to Mexico."
I was on duty in Washington when General Sam. Houston, one of the
first Senators from Texas, arrived in attendance on the session of Con-
gress. I had made a very friendly acquaintance with him at Nacogdoches
Texas (where I, and two regiments, were sent — by General Gaines, again —
in 1836, during the Texan revolutionary war, and were there stationed for
about six months, building log huts when the winter came on) yet I called
on him in doubtful mind. He received me cordially; but when, thinking
I must " have it out " with him, I introduced the subject of the " little un-
pleasantness " between myself and his "army," as he called it, on the Ar-
kansas, his countenance took on a grim expression for some minutes: he
said very little; but of Colonel Snively, he mentioned, " I forbade him my
presence." Our friendly relations were unbroken.
^.d^.^trvlu/
THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE
The first record contained in our colonial history of any kind of mail
service dates from 1677, when the court at Boston appointed Mr. John
Hayward " to take in and convey letters according to their direction."
In 1 7 10, Parliament passed an act to establish a general post-office for all
her majesty's dominions, including North America, New York being made
the chief letter office of the colonies. The rates of postage for all letters
and packages from New York to any place within sixty miles were as fol-
lows: single letters, fourpence ; double, eightpence ; treble, one shilling;
an ounce, one shilling and fourpence. In December, 171 7, arrangements
were made to receive letters in Boston from Williamsburg, Virginia, in
four weeks in the summer season, and eight weeks in winter. In 1738,
Henry Pratt was appointed riding postmaster for all the routes between
Philadelphia and Newport, Virginia, to set out in the beginning of each
month and return in twenty-four days. In 1753, letters and packages for
all persons residing in Newton, Bristol, and Chester were sent to the post-
office in Philadelphia to be called for. In the same year, Benjamin Frank-
lin was appointed Deputy Postmaster-General. He startled the people by
proposing to run a line of stage-coaches from Philadelphia to Boston once
a week, to start from each city on Monday morning and arrive on Saturday
night. In 1792, the following rates of postage were established, distance
and not weight being the basis :
One letter, less than thirty miles, 6 cents ; between thirty and sixty
miles, 8 cents ; between sixty and one hundred miles, 10 cents; between
one hundred and one hundred and fifty miles, 12^4 cents; between one
hundred and fifty and two hundred miles, 15 cents; two hundred to two
hundred and fifty miles, 17 cents ; two hundred and fifty to three hundred
and fifty miles, 20 cents ; three hundred and fifty to four hundred and fifty
miles, 22 cents ; over four hundred and fifty miles, 25 cents. A single
sheet of paper was counted as a single letter, and was charged a single
rate. Two sheets were counted as a double letter, and were charged for
at double rates. The same ratio was applied to a letter containing three
sheets. Packages weighing one ounce required four single rates, and in
proportion for any greater weight. Single foreign letters were charged
8 cents; double letters, 16 cents; triple letters, 24 cents. Newspapers
were carried one hundred miles for 1 cent. For any greater distance
46 THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE
Postage-stamps were first introduced into the United States in the year
1847. The first design used bore the head of Franklin in the centre.
Above the face was the inscription " U. S. Postage," and below it,
14 5 cents." Since this stamp made its appearance it has been followed by
one hundred and sixty other varieties. Previous to this time all postage
was collected in money, either at the office of mailing or delivery. In
1851 the postage rates were again changed, 3 cents being the rate for all
distances less than three thousand miles; for greater distances the rate
being 10 cents.
The first regular stage-line established in the colonies began making
regular trips between New York and Philadelphia in 1756, making the
journey in three days. The first stage between New York and Boston
commenced its trips June 24, 1772, and was to leave once a fortnight.
In 1798, the entire business of the post-office department was con-
ducted by the Postmaster-General, one assistant, and one clerk. In 1833,
it required forty-eight hours to convey news from Washington to Philadel-
phia. In 1834, New York Saturday papers were not received in Washing-
ton until the following Tuesday afternoon. In 1835, the mails were car-
ried between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh daily in four-horse coaches, two
lines daily, one to go through in a little more than two days ; the other in
three and a half days. The fast coach carried the through letter mail ; the
slower one the way mail and papers. At this date there were only 1,085
miles of railroad in the United States. The rate of speed did not exceed
ten miles an hour. There were no connecting lines of road, and no gen-
eral effort appears to have been made up to this time to carry the mails
on the railroads. In 1833, a contractor named Reeside carried the mails
between Philadelphia and New York, ninety miles, in six hours, making
fifteen miles an hour.
The horses were driven five miles and then changed. Eighteen changes
were required. It required two horses to carry the mail, and the total
number of horses required for each day's service was seventy-eight. The
contract price was $1 for each mile made by each horse.
The first locomotive used in the country was at Honesdale, Pennsyl-
vania, August c, 1829 ; but this was only an experimental trip on the rail-
road of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. The South Carolina
Railroad Company was the first to adopt the locomotive, in September,
1829. The cars began to run on the Boston and Providence Railroad from
Boston to Canton, fifteen miles, in September, 1834. The railroad, as a
factor in the mail service, did not have a beginning before 1835.
August 25 of this year, the formal opening of the road between Wash-
THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE 47
ington and Baltimore took place. Amos Kendall, then Postmaster-Gen-
eral, at first objected to having the mails carried by rail over this road,
since it would, as he feared, disarrange connections with existing lines of
stages. In October, 1834, a writer in the Boston Atlas says: "We left
Philadelphia on the morning of the 6th in a railroad car, and reached Col-
umbia, on the Susquehanna, at dusk, a distance of eighty-two miles. The
car was drawn by horses, but on the 9th, as I was informed, the second
track was to be laid, when a locomotive steam-engine was to be substituted,
and the distance would be covered in six or seven hours. This road has
been constructed by the State of Pennsylvania. The rails are laid on
blocks of stone, and the whole of the work has been well executed. Only
a few years since it required as long a time to go from Boston to the State
of Ohio as to make a voyage to Europe, but by the invention of steam-
boats, the construction of canals and railroads, and the use of locomotives,
the journey may be performed next summer from Boston to St. Louis, a
distance of over 1,900 miles, in from fourteen to fifteen days, and at an
expense of not more than $50, and all without passing a single mile in
stages over a common road." Carrying the mails by rail was an experi-
ment at first, attended by no little discouragement. The imperfect char-
acter of railroad machinery often caused delays.
The degree of speed attained by the earlier roads was not as great as
could be accomplished by stage-coaches. Short lines of roads here and
there tended to confuse the regular schedule time established by stage
lines. In February, 1836, complaint was made to the department, of gross
irregularities in the newspaper mail between Philadelphia, Harrisburg,
and Carlisle. The contractors were served with notice that if the irregu-
larities were repeated transportation by rail must be at once abandoned,
and the double daily line of four-horse post-coaches resumed between
Philadelphia and Chambersburg. The railroad from Baltimore to Fred-
erick, Maryland, proved unsatisfactory to the contractors, and in March,
1835, they asked permission to resume the old stage-coaches. In 1835
the department complained that the mails from New York to Philadelphia
were usually late, requiring more than thirteen hours from Jersey City.
The language of the complaint continued : " This was hardly the case in
the worst days of bad staging. There have been two failures of the mails
from beyond Philadelphia at this city (Washington) in the course of the
present week, occasioned, it is said, by accidents to the locomotive on the
Amboy and Camden road. From the experience which we have had, the
adaptation of the railroad to the purposes of mail transportation is becom-
ing daily more and more questionable."
4S THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE
The railway mail service at its beginning was entirely without system.
Postal officials and railroad managers alike appeared to possess no practi-
cal ideas on the subject of transporting or handling the mails. Some of
the crude ideas on the subject, entertained by the Postmaster-General in
1835, are worth reproducing. As to the manner in which the mails were
to be secured while in transit, he suggested that the railroad company
between "Washington and Baltimore might close in some portion of their
baggage car, to be secured by lock and key at one end of the line, only to
be opened by the postmaster at the other terminus of the road. If this
idea was not found to be practical, it was suggested that the department
would furnish a strong fire-proof box or chest, so constructed that it could
be readily transferred from a wagon to a car prepared for the purpose, into
which chest or box the entire mails could be placed, and locked up at the
post-office making up the mail, and not to be opened by any one while en
route to the office of destination. The most novel idea was that of con-
structing a mail-car on wheels, capable of being run on either the common
streets of the city or on the railroad track, so that the car might be drawn
through the city from the depot to the post-office, where the mails were to
be placed in it, and the car again returned to the depot, placed on the
track, and attached to the regular train.
The increasing quantities of mail matter to be carried called for im-
proved methods, and in 1840, Mr. George Plitt, who had been sent to
Europe to make observations of the methods there in use, reported that
each railway company provided a separate car for the post office use,
fitted up with boxes to facilitate the reception and distribution of the
mails. He called attention to the device in use for catching mail-bags
while the cars were moving. He recommended that at least one intelli-
gent agent be appointed by the department for each of the larger States,
to look after the interests of the service. It was suggested by him that a
number of mail-guards or agents be appointed to superintend and handle
the pouches while in transit. In June, 1840, two agents were appointed to
accompany the mails from Boston to Springfield, and return alternately, to
make exchanges, receive, forward, and deliver unpaid way letters and
packages. The first instance on record of the appointment of temporary
route agents occurred in 1841, two agents being appointed the above year
to travel between Utica and Auburn, New York. In 1835 the Post- mas-
ter-General made a report to Congress concerning the inefficiency of the
mail-cars in use.
He said that the agents were unable to properly discharge their duties,
and stated that he had prepared a model of a mail-car for the inspection of
THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE 49
the various railway officials, but that very few of them took any notice of
it whatever. In 1857, the Postmaster-General complained that the mails
were not carried with the same speed as passengers, and urged that a
greater number of mail-agents should be provided. These agents had
nothing to do with the distribution of the mails, they only having to handle
the pouches. As early as 18 10, a law was enacted providing for the estab-
lishment of certain distribution post-offices throughout the country.
Under the operations of this system, each letter, paper, or package, on
being received in any office, was at once forwarded to the nearest distri-
bution office. From the distribution office each letter was forwarded
direct to its destination, if possible ; otherwise, it was sent to such distri-
bution office as could conveniently forward it to the office of delivery. For
the labor of distribution, postmasters received seven per cent, of the stamp
valuation of all mail handled. Under this system the government often
suffered through fraud perpetrated by dishonest postmasters. Mail matter,
instead of being forwarded through the proper channels, was often sent by
circuitous routes that it might swell the earnings of neighboring distribu-
tion offices. By such means the earnings of the government were too
much absorbed in commissions taken by the many thrifty postmasters
through whose hands the meandering letters were compelled to pass. No
little mischief was caused by the delay to which letters were subjected
under these circumstances. This system was never popular, and it finally
became intolerable, as railroad facilities increased from year to year. The
delay caused by repeated distributions in the course of a letter's journey
was not particularly noticeable in the days of stage-coaches, for the stage
could wait while the mail was being assorted and re-pouched. Steam-cars
proved to be less patient and, as a result, the mail-pouches had to await the
arrival of other trains to take them on their journeys. The doom of the
old-time distributing office was sealed with the advent of the railway post-
office car. The discovery of this method of distributing and hastening
the mails was made July, 1862, by Wm. H. Davis, of St. Joseph, Missouri,
an employe of the post-office in that city. In that month he operated the
first post-office car ever placed on wheels in this country, on the Hannibal
and St. Joseph railroad. The plan proved to be so eminently successful
that it speedily came into general use, and worked a revolution in the rail-
way mail service. Before the day of the railway post-office, letters crept
as snails, and since its advent they fly as on the wings of steam. Under
this system there is never a pause in the onward flight of the mails until
the offices of destination are reached.
Through letters, like restless footballs, are tossed from one flying post-
Vol. XVIII.— No. 1.— 4
50 THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE
office car to another, until the end of the route is reached, or they are con-
signed to the slower movements of stage-coaches or pony expresses. Way
mail is snatched up by the flying post-office cars, and is as unceremoniously
dropped again when the office of destination glimmers past.
A letter mailed at Washington and addressed to Dallas, Texas, is taken
up in turn by the following " R. P. O.'s," as they are termed in the lan-
guage of the craft : " Balto. & Grafton ; Grafton & Cin. ; Cin. & St. Louis ;
St. Louis & Little Rock; Little Rock and Texarkana ; Texarkana and
Dallas."
The postal-clerk is a genius who must necessarily understand the name
and locality of every artery, vein, tissue, and fibre in the entire postal
system. When he takes up a letter addressed to a remote office, he must
at a glance understand the various lines of travel over which it is to pass,
and it is his duty to send it by the most expeditious route. The postal-
clerk is required to commit to memory the names of all the offices con-
tained in the various States included in his division.
The average number of offices so committed is about eight thousand
for the entire system. Perhaps the most difficult duty known to the postal-
clerk is that of distributing the mails for the larger cities. It is a very
difficult task to remember the scheme of New York City, yet the postal
clerk is required to distribute all New York mail by stations, streets, num-
bers, and boxes. Fifth Avenue Hotel mail is thrown into its proper box
at " Station E." The Grand Central gets its letters at " Station A." So,
of all firms, institutions, and leading individuals. The various carrier
routes are made up in the same manner. A letter addressed to No. 145
Washington Street would be placed in a package for " Carrier No. 15."
The Times Building mail is carried by " No. 33 ; " the Tribune by " No. 36."
The postal-clerk must know the various mail routes as familiarly as he
does the faces of his best friends. His car, with its tier over tier of pigeon-
holes, and its ranks of yawning mail-bags, is to him no labyrinth of mys-
teries. His eyes are in his fingers, and the skillful musician's touch is not
more accurate than the aim cf this wizard of the mail-car. The depart-
ment rules are exacting, and if an occasional error results from the hurried
manner in which the mail is thrown, in course of distribution, it is sure to
be detected by the next clerk into whose hands the stray piece of mail
falls, and a report of it is at once sent to the Division Superintendent, to
be charged against the clerk making the error. During the fiscal year
ending June 30th, 1886, the number of letters and other pieces of mail
matter distributed was 5,329,521,475. The number of errors made in
handling this vast quantity of matter was only 1,260,443. The number of
THE UNITED STATES MAIL SERVICE
51
pieces handled, for each error committed were 4,228, thus making the per-
centage of correct distribution 99.98. All employes are required to attest
their skill by frequent examinations, and for this purpose much of the
leisure time of each is devoted to studying the mail schemes of the various
States attaching to the division in which he is employed.
The organization of the mail system embraces nine grand divisions,
over each of which presides a general superintendent. The number of
persons at present employed in the service is about four thousand. Each
railway post-office is manned by an organized crew, having a head clerk
in charge, and every detail of the work is systematized.
The life of a postal-clerk is beset by many hardships. Since the year
1877, between seven and eight hundred casualties have occurred in the
service, incident mainly to railroad accidents. The nature of the service
entails steady impairment of the physical system, owing to constant
strain on the nerve forces, irregularities of diet and rest, and other causes.
Washington, D. C.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
To write a complete and accurate history of an important Act of Con-
gress would be to throw an illumination upon our national legislation, na-
tional government, and national character. For every important statute is
the resultant of all the social, political, and economic forces at work in the
country. Still more, the process of legislation, if we could follow it at every
stage, would be seen to explain some of the most obscure and most inter-
esting phases in the life of the nation. But who is to disentangle the
threads? Who can discover the undercurrents of influence of individuals,
of corporations, of municipalities, of states, of private counselors, of vol-
untary advocates, of paid lobbyists? who is to assign the right equivalent
to each member of the legislative body ? to the President, to his seven offi-
cial advisers, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to each of
the seventy-four Senators and three hundred and twenty-five Representa-
tives ? Above all, who is to measure the effect of tradition, precedent, and
forms of organization ? We have a careful and reasonably exact record of
words spoken and action taken on the floors of Congress ; but who will
tell us what goes on in committee, or private conference, or in the lobby ?
who knows the motives which cause votes to combine and separate ?
The paper to-day* is, therefore, not a history of the River and Harbor
Bill of 1887. It is an attempt to consider it as one might study the life of
a rather obscure public man ; the outward events are few and uninterest-
ing ; but at every stage we come in contact with persons and organisms
which the bill helps us to explain. The dullest man may meet and observe
kings. The dreariest act for internal improvements illustrates at the same
time the manner of legislating in Congress, and the way in which the pub-
lic funds are spent.
There is a reason why the annual River and Harbor Bill especially re-
wards the student. It is a sort of comet in the congressional planetary
system. Other appropriation bills appear each year in about the same
form, pass through the same sort of debate, and are approved as the same
matter of course. The River and Harbor Bill has an orbit of its own ; no
mar, is able to predict its splendor or the time of its appearance. It dashes
into Congress, and is attracted hither and thither ; and to the last moment
* This paper was read before the American Historical Association and the American Economic
Association, in joint session, at Sanders' Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts, June 24, 1887.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
53
it is uncertain whether it will escape on its parabolic path, or collide with
a disagreement of the Houses, or an executive veto. For this erratic be-
havior there are two causes ; the bill is made up by a special machinery ;
and the bill is a luxury. Members of Congress must have their salary and
mileage; and pensioners, diplomats, and Presidents must be paid; but
rivers will flow and tides rise whether the appropriation passes or fails.
The enemies of the bill are, therefore, sure to attack it, without any fear of
crippling the government, and a counter effort is made to introduce it in
a form as inoffensive as possible.
Before the bill is finally submitted to Congress it passes through four
stages of preparation : local engineers survey and estimate ; the chief of
engineers estimates; the Secretary of War estimates ; and the committee
considers. The preliminary survey must have been authorized by a pre-
vious River and Harbor Act, and is not permitted until the local engineer
has reported that the improvement will be of public necessity, and that the
place is worthy of improvement. In point of fact, a survey is rarely re-
fused. The local engineer then submits a plan and estimates. The chief
of engineers may alter the plan and pare down the estimate.
The official life of our bill began October 28, 1886, when the chief of
engineers submitted his report, and set down as sums which might profit-
ably be spent in the fiscal year 1S87— '88, items footing to about $30,000,-
000. The Secretary of War, in his report, November 30, 1886, pared down,
in his turn, and estimated " for improving rivers and harbors, $10,175,870. "
Save in exceptional cases, the War Department considers itself the agent of
Congress in ascertaining the practicability of improvements, and in form-
ing engineering plans ; and makes no suggestions as to the policy of inter-
nal improvements, or of particular expenditures.
The Egyptians named not the name of Osiris, and it is with some
trepidation that I mention the Standing Committee of the House of Rep-
resentatives on Rivers and Harbors — more particularly since it has seen
fit to recommend a survey of the Charles River from Boston to Water-
town, Massachusetts. There is a mystery hovering over the operations of
standing committees of Congress, a mystery only partially removed by Pro-
fessor Woodrow Wilson in his admirable book on Congressional Govern-
ment : that committee of which I have just spoken is the only House com-
mittee save the Committee on Appropriations which has the power of re-
porting general appropriation bills. Up to March, 1883, the annual River
and Harbor Bill was prepared by the Committee on Commerce. In sev-
eral successive Congresses it was attempted to divide that committee,
which the House was pleased to think overburdened. In 1882, the Chair-
54 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
man, Mr. Reagan, forced through the House the worst River and Harbor
Bill that has ever been passed. In December, 1883, Congress adopted a
new rule, placing under the control of a new committee all measures relat-
ing to rivers and harbors. In this case the immense power of the Speaker,
through his appointment of committees, was well exercised. Mr. Willis of
Kentucky, the chairman of the River and Harbor Committee, has shown
himself a candid, industrious, fair, and honest man. That two of his four
bills have failed is due rather to amendments forced upon him than to
measures which he has introduced.
Iu is no sinecure to sit as one of the fifteen members of the committee.
In the first place, to that committee are referred all petitions and memo-
rials and all individual bills bearing on internal improvements. Of the
bills, vast numbers were formerly introduced; at present, members pre-
fer to go before the committee in person, and the memorials are in most
cases sent direct. Next, come the voluminous estimates of the chief of
engineers and his subordinates, covering thousands of pages ; the com-
mittee then attempt to digest the statistics of each river and port seeking an
appropriation. The Secretary of War is called upon for information. Mr.
Willis has further adopted the plan of asking all the members of both
Houses to appear before the committee, where each has liberty to present
the needs of his district or State ; and nine-tenths of them come forward.
In addition, there are received and heard delegations from leading cities
and from chambers of commerce — all upon a similar errand.
" The horse leech hath two daughters," said Solomon, " crying, give !
give ! " and the committee never suffers for want of information in favor
of appropriations. Unfortunately, though every job has an advocate, the
public interest has none ; there are a hundred pleas for expenditure,
against one protest at extravagance. There is no organized river and
harbor lobby, for almost every Congressman is an interested party. By
petitions, bills, reports, and arguments informed, the committee begins to
frame its bill. At once there springs up an ever-recurring difficulty:
the bill must be carried ; and the number of members who believe in a
river and harbor bill, as in itself meritorious, is not sufficient to pass it.
There is no such proof of the national importance of a bill as an item
within it for one's own district. On the other hand, the committee must
select : the general distrust of harbor legislation, the numerous vetoes,
and the fate of members who persisted in voting the Act of 1882, all
suggest caution. The problem before the committee is always : How
much may we put in without offending the newspapers? How much may
we leave out without losing votes? The estimates of the engineers are
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
55
is
ro-
far greater than the sensitive press will accept, and the committee h;
a rough rule of thumb by which it agrees to appropriate a certain p
portion of these estimates. In 1887 the percentage was twenty-five ; thus
the amount of the bill was fixed at $7,500,000. We must not suppose that
each work receives something; some of the places suggested are too
plainly unworthy ; others require too great an expenditure; the committee
usually throws out a sixth or an eighth of the items in the engineer's re-
port. Furthermore, the committee does not scruple to insert items never
before considered. In this manner, in the bill of 1884 was included the
first appropriation for the Sandy Bay Harbor of Refuge at Cape Ann,
which is likely to cost $10,000,000, and on which there had never been an
estimate.
On January 8, 1887, when all the items had been squeezed or ex-
panded till, taken together, they filled up the measure of the committee's
purpose, the committee reported its bill to the House. The date shows a
distinct advance over the previous regime. Four years ago Mr. Reagan
did not report his bill till February 20, eleven days before the end of the
session. In addition, Mr. Willis's accompanying report usually contains a
courageous analysis of the bill. It is not to be presumed that the bill had
the complete approval of any member of the committee : it was simply
the best they could offer with any fair hope of its passing.
The bantling had now a name. It was " H. R. 10419," and was de-
scribed as
"A BILL
making appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of
certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other purposes." The
public works were two hundred and ninety in number, and required a sum
of $7,430,000 ; the " other purposes " refer to some clauses, directing the
manner in which the work should be carried on.
It was a world full of crafty enemies upon which H. R. 10419 opened
its eyes. No sooner was it reported to the House of Representatives than
a member gave notice that " all points of order are reserved on that bill,"
and when, having gone through the usual recommittal, it was a second time
reported, January 11, there was heard the same formula, so suggestive of
parliamentary stilettos.
An appropriation bill is one of the few things that the House debates
thoroughly. The River and Harbor Bill is peculiarly open to attack both
in principle and detail. In 1886 each House gave up ten sessions to that
one bill — a total of not less than sixty hours of debate. There are at
least five different parties to the discussion, each of which has a peculiar
56 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
interest, and forwards it in a peculiar way. The first is made up of chair-
men of other committees, who wish to bring forward their own measures,
instead of the River and Harbor Bill ; the second includes all the members
with speeches, who wish unlimited general debate ; next come the men
with amendments, who wish only an opportunity to insert their item, and
assure the House it will take but a moment ; the fourth class is determined
to kill the bill by filibustering. Finally, we have the Chairman of the Com-
mittee on Rivers and Harbors ; to him other chairmen are Paynim knights,
to be unhorsed at the first onset ; general debate is a waste of time, and
speech-making convinces nobody ; amendment means the insertion of jobs,
the excision of necessary items, and the disturbance of the nice adjustment
of interests perfected by the committee ; as for filibusters, every right-
minded chairman looks upon them as piratical enemies of the human race,
to be driven from the seas by force, or, if necessary, to be taken with guile.
It is well known that the first morning hour of each congressional sitting
is given up to miscellaneous business ; and the second usually to the call of
committees for bills. Most of the remaining time on each of four days,
January 15, 22, 24, and 26, was devoted by the House to debate on the
River and Harbor Bill ; and, contrary to the general usage, it passed
precisely as reported.
The first struggle was with the Chairman of the Agricultural Committee,
who, on three of the four days, vainly strove to induce the House to take
up one of his bills instead of H. R. 10419. On each day the House went
into " Committee of the Whole on the state of the Union, to consider the
bill making appropriations, etc." It is in Committee of the Whole that bills
are perfected, and that most of the parliamentary sparring takes place. Its
more simple rules and more informal practice make it a medium of real
debate ; here amendments may be offered ; an admirable rule permits five-
minute speeches on each amendment, and there is no previous question.
The chairman of the committee in charge of the bill may and frequently
does find means to cut off debate ; but Mr. Willis has shown himself willing
to permit discussion, criticism, and amendment. It is true that the first gun
in the battle was his motion that general debate be limited to ten minutes;
but he readily consented to three hours, to be divided between the friends
and opponents of the bill as it stood.
In attempting to go into committee on the second day, the filibusters
began their tedious tactics, which were kept up during a good part of three
sittings. Now it was that most exasperating device, the cry of " no quo-
rum " on every vote; by themselves abstaining from voting, the opponents
of any measure may prevent any amendments or action, unless the friends
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR HILL 57
of the bill can keep within call a majority of all the members of the House.
Now it was a motion to adjourn ; now it was the tedious call of the
yeas and nays; now it was a meaningless amendment, now it was a frivo-
lous point of order. The rules of the House are, on the whole, very lenient
to a minority. Two men, backed by about twenty votes, caused the bill
to stand still for two days. In vain did Chairman Willis remind them
that he had not used his power to pass the bill under suspension of the
rules, because he preferred fair debate.
Remonstrance failing, he proceeded to fight them in their own fash-
ion. On January 24, -Anderson, of Kansas, had moved an amendment
which has several times been proposed, and, indeed, was once inserted by
the House in a river and harbor bill, viz. : that the appropriation should
be made in a lump sum, to be expended at the discretion of the Secretary
of War. He mustered but fourteen votes. On the 26th, before a single
detail had been discussed, a friend of the bill submitted an amendment in
almost precisely the same terms. The other side, though apparently puz-
zled, feared the gift-bearing Greeks, and opposed the motion on the ground
that it was an " abdication of its functions " by the House ; for the items
would undoubtedly be re-inserted by the Senate. Nevertheless the amend-
ment was carried, and thus took the place of the original bill. There were
no longer any items to discuss ; the Committee of the Whole therefore
rose, and the bill was declared completed, and thus incapable of further
amendment. Mr. Willis next moved the previous question. At this stage
the opponents of the bill seem to have seen the trap, and interposed points
of order. It was too late; instantly the friends of the bill whipped about,
and voted in the House against the substitute which they had just accepted
in committee. The effect was to leave the bill precisely where it stood
when reported January 9, but with this important difference: under the
rules of the House it could no further be discussed or amended. The
House had substituted the amendment for the bill, and the bill for the
amendment; but the process of substitution could no further go. If the
trick seem unfair, it must be remembered that the House had spent ten
hours upon the bill, of which time the filibusters had consumed at least
one-half. Next day, January 27, the bill was quietly passed by a vote of
154 to 95.
As the Senate debates more carefully than the House, and as it guards
jealously its prerogative of altering and increasing House appropriations,
H. R. 10419 was now to lose its form. Sent to the Committee on Com-
merce on January 28, it was reported back February 17, but how changed !
It was technically one amendment, but practically a new bill. Nearly every
5S THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
item bad been raised, and many new ones added ; the sum total was nearly
$ 10.300,000, instead of the original $7,500,000. Although no item was
struck out by the Senate, amendments offered by individuals added
$385,000 to the total. A few amendments were, however, ruled out of
order because they proposed an appropriation for work on which there
was no estimate or because they were " legislation," or, to use a more
familiar term, were " riders." The characteristic of the Senate proceed-
ings was, as it usually is, the increase of appropriations, and the introduc-
tion of important works not included in the House bill. Thus the Missis-
sippi received $1,500,000 as against $1,250,000 in the House bill; $50,000
was inserted for the survey of the Hennepin Canal ; and $150,000 and
8350,000 respectively for the Green and Barren, and Portage Lake im-
provements. The Senate passed the bill as amended, February 21, and
knowing by long experience that the House would not concur, conferees
were immediately appointed. The Senate had spent seven hours and a
half on the bill, and had added $3,200,000.
As there was technically but one amendment to its original bill, the
House was not bound to consider each item separately ; and when the
Senate bill appeared in the House February 23, it was hastily acted on by
the Committee on Rivers and Harbors, and they recommended non-con-
currence. On February 26, when but five debating days remained, Mr.
Willis moved to suspend the rules, to non-concur, and to appoint conferees.
The filibusters were able only to obtain the reading of the bill. Thirty
minutes' debate was allowed under the rules. It was perfectly clear that
the conference was the only means now by which any bill could be carried.
The necessary two-thirds vote was obtained, and the conference authorized :
as is usual in such cases, the chairman and one of the leading members of the
Committee on Rivers and Harbors were of the conferees.
American politics abound in ingenious labor-saving devices, by which
the will of a few men replaces the will of a majority. We have the nomi-
nating caucus, the legislative caucus, the standing committee system, and
the conference committees. But a name may be rubbed out of the slate
of the nominating caucus, while the conference report is seldom amended:
the legislative caucus cannot prevent a bolt ; the conference committee
makes no minority report ; the most powerful standing committee may see
its carefully prepared bill shattered by amendments; the conference com-
mittee frames a bill which has never been considered in either House, and
forces it through unaltered; the mightiest chairman on the floor may be
swept off his legs when a conference committee claims the unrestrained
privilege of presenting its report.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 59
In theory the conference committee is empowered to consider only
matters in disagreement between the Houses, and to arrive at some middle
way in each. In practice they often frame practically a new bill, contain-
ing a new distribution of appropriations, and inserting some items never
discussed in either House. In this way the Tariff Act of 1883 was re-
ported. It is a very startling fact that at least one-half the important acts
of Congress are framed by these special joint, shifting committees of six
men each. It would be interesting to know what went on between the
26th and 28th of February over H. R. 10419. It is possible to judge only
by the result: The House bill called for $7,500,000; the Senate bill called
for $10,500,000; the conference report called for $9,913,000.
The Hennepin Canal and purchase of the Green River and Portage
Lake improvements were retained, and at least one new item had crept in.
Like many other tyrants, the conference committee registers its will
through the forms of free government. When, on February 28, the report
was submitted for the action of the House, there was but one way in which
it could exercise any further control over the bill : it might reject the re-
port and simply order another conference. Four successive conference com-
mittees had been necessary to arrange the River and Harbor Bill of 1886.
The time was too short for further delay. The only remaining check was
to insist that the report should be comprehensible, and that it should be
read. It is very difficult to secure either of these simple safeguards. The
report on the bill of 1881, carrying $1 1,000,000, set forth only that the
Senate had receded from amendments numbered so and so, and that the
House had receded from its disagreements to amendments numbered so
and so. A rule of the House required with each conference report " a
detailed statement sufficiently explicit to inform the House what effect . . .
such amendments . . . will have upon the measure to which they relate."
Chairman Reagan then submitted a report of nine and one-half lines, from
which no information could be had as to one single item ; and the bill was
passed in fifteen minutes, under the previous question. Chairman Willis
usually presents a perfectly clear analysis of the changes made by the
committee. But the clearer the conference reports on appropriation bills
the plainer is the fact that the House conferees yield to the Senate ; only
one-fourth of the Senate increase had been struck out. So far as the
House of Representatives is concerned, conferences are what plebiscites in
France have been defined to be — " a device for voting yes." The Chair-
man of the River and Harbor Committee, trying to please delegations and
members in his committee, is one individual ; in the House, defending his
bill, he is another; in conference, facing the danger of failure, he is an-
60 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
other ; and the three individuals have different opinions as to what consti-
tutes a proper bill. It is impossible for any chairman to see his bill finally
fail for want of a few concessions ; and he has usually left room for con-
cessions by cutting his original bill below what he expected to appropri-
ate. At am- rate, the House voted to consider the report. There was a
feeble flickering of filibustering ; at this stage, "consideration " meant only
that the previous question should be ordered. It was done. The final
vote was now to be taken, and both sides mustered their retainers. By a
vote of 17S to 89 the House agreed to the report of the conference com-
mittee. As the rules were suspended, the amended bill was thus passed.
The day following, March 1, the Senate agreed to the report of its
conferees without a division. The only objection came from a senator
who wished to see the bill in print. Next day, March 2, it was duly an-
nounced that the Speaker of the House had signed the bill, and that the
Senate Committee on Enrolled Bills had found it correct.
Here let us stop a moment to describe the appearance and character of
the bill of which we have so long followed the fortunes. First comes the
enacting clause ; the second paragraph makes three hundred and fifteen
appropriations for as many works; the third clause regulates the manner
of doing the work ; at the end is a general appropriation for eighty speci-
fied surveys. The whole bill is hedged about with provisos, the most im-
portant of which are the stipulation for the expenditure of all sums under
the direction of the Secretary of War and the special supervision of a
commission over the Mississippi River improvements. In many cases the
appropriation is subdivided, as in the following example :
" Improving Newtown Creek and bay, New York : continuing improvement, $10,000;
of which ^2,500 is to be expended on west branch, between Maspeth Avenue and Dual
Bridge, at Grand Street and Metropolitan Avenue ; $2,500 to be expended on main branch,
between easterly Grand Street bridge to Metropolitan Avenue ; and balance on lower end,
from Maspeth Avenue to the mouth of the creek."
An analysis of the bill shows the objects for which appropriations are
made, as follows: 109 harbors, 8 breakwaters, 3 harbors of refuge, 4 ice har-
bors, 13 channels, 162 rivers, 6 removals of obstructions, 2 purchases of
improvements, 80 surveys, 8 miscellaneous. Appropriations are divided
in 44 cases, making a total of 439 works upon which money is to be spent.
The total is 89,913,800.
After sixty-five years of improvement of water-ways by the government
it is too late to ask whether it is constitutional, or even whether it is ex-
pedient, to appropriate money from the national treasury for national ob-
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 6l
jects. The moral character of H. R. 10419 must be determined by in-
quiring whether this particular bill is reasonable in amount ; whether the
improvements would be of general benefit ; whether they are all useful to
any one ;. and whether the methods of administration are wise.
In answer to the first question, there has been a pretty steady increase
since 1822 ; but it has not in proportion gone beyond the increase of the
general expenses of the government ; and the bill for 1887 is, compared
with those of the nine years past, by no means excessive.
Was the bill of general utility ? If not, it was from no lack of effort to
make it cover the whole area of the United States. It is a little hard to
judge how useful the greater number of works may be ; for some of their
names are not always familiar, and several of the places mentioned in
the bill modestly avoid the publicity of a gazetteer. Of course, every New
Englander knows precisely the location of the western channel of Lynn
harbor, leading to the Point of Pines, and sees the national necessity for its
receiving $1,000. But why should Hyannis Harbor get $5,000, Aransas
Pass $60,000, Wappoo Cut $2,500, and Upper Willamette River $7,500?
They all seem of equal importance to the great commerce of the United
States. Why should Duck Creek, Delaware, have $3,000, and Mispillion
Creek, in the same State, which has a much larger name, be put off with
$2,000 ? Why should Currituck Sound, Coanjok Bay, and North River
Bar, North Carolina, receive conjointly only as much as Contentnia Creek,
near by? Is it fair that money should be appropriated for the Big Sul-
phur, the Yallabusha, the Pamunkey, the Chefuncte River, and Bogue
Phalia, while our own Charles is put off with a pitiful survey? What
power other than a modern language association can ever hope to " im-
prove " the Rivers Skagit, Steilaquamish, Nootsack, Snoquomish, and
Snoqualmie ?
There is other than geographic evidence that some of the items in the
bill might well be omitted. In January, 1883, the Secretary of War made
a report in which he designated ninety-two items in the previous River
and Harbor Biil, carrying $862,500, as not of general benefit. His reasons
are instructive : in one port the annual revenue collected was $23.25 ; in
another there was no commerce whatever; in another, the real object of
the appropriation was to provide hatching grounds for the Fish Commis-
sioners. Some rivers were incapable of permanent improvement ; in
others, the people had themselves obstructed the stream. One creek lay
wholly within the limits of the city of Philadelphia, was an open sewer
and was barred by permanent bridges ; all the water of another could,
when examined, pass through a twelve-inch drain ; and a quarter of a
62 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
million had been appropriated, practically to protect land from the effects
oi hydraulic mining-. Thirty-one of the items considered reappear in the
bill of 1887; and it would be impossible to say how many new ones are of
the same sort. The great rivers and harbors in the bill of 1887, the im-
provement of which is at once seen to be national take up $5,570,000; the
remaining- $4. 200,000 was not likely to benefit anyone outside the limits of
the State within which it was spent.
In the present low state of public sentiment as to national expenditures,
one might perhaps admit appropriations which do benefit some commerce,
however local. But our bill, like most of its predecessors, contains pro-
visions for the expenditure of money which will benefit only the owner of
the water-front, or the contractor, or the laborer. There is an item in
H. R. 10419 for " the protection of the Illinois shore opposite the mouth
of the Missouri River." There is an appropriation of $300,000 for the
Missouri, purposely distributed among points where there are railroad
bridges; and the understanding was, that it should be used to protect the
approaches. Indeed, why should money be spent upon the channel of the
Missouri? Senator Vest, of Missouri, frankly states that from St. Louis
to St. Joseph there are but three steamers plying, and another member
of Congress states that the draw in one of the bridges had been opened
but once in a year. Some of the appropriations have left no other trace
than the wages and profits of people within the district.
Here is a specific case, no worse in principle than a hundred others.
Years ago the United States Government granted very valuable lands
to aid in the construction of a canal connecting; the Fox and Wisconsin
Rivers. Having thus given the canal a value, it then proceeded to pay
$145,000 in cash for the canal, leaving, however, to the original owners the
right to the water-power. It has further spent upwards of $2,000,000 on
the improvement. At the present time, according to a student in Harvard
College who lives on the line of the canal, there is one small steamer mak-
ing regular trips, and the only practical value of the improvement is that
the government keeps up the water-power for private parties, who have
recently sold it to other private parties for $3,000,000. For improvements
wholly within the State, in the bill of 1881, Florida received for each
81.000 of valuation $7.16; Oregon, $4.09; New York, 21 cents; Pennsyl-
vania, 10 cents, and Iowa, 1 cent. It is not too much to say that, under the
bill of 1887, §2,000,000 would have been absolutely wasted, and $2,000,000
more would have been of local benefit only.*
* The writer will be greatly obliged to any person who will send him authenticated accounts of
similar cases in which government appropriations have been misused.
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL 63
There remains one question. Is the money spent upon undoubted na-
tional improvements wisely spent ? I cannot think so. The first great de-
fect of the system is, that too many works are undertaken at a time ; every
man wishes to see the wall built (by somebody else) over against his own
house. Of the four hundred and thirty-nine works contemplated by H. R.
10419, in only eight cases is the appropriation sufficient to complete the
work ; the yearly dole is necessary in order to hold the yearly vote ; what-
ever the estimate of the engineers, the application of the per-cent. rule by
the committee makes it impossible to secure the finishing appropriation
for any work. Pressing works are kept incomplete, or swept away be-
cause half finished. Yet the government is entering upon new and costly
enterprises. The engineer reports no summary of the probable expendi-
ture upon works now in progress ; it can hardly be less than $200,000,000.
Every year new surveys are introduced, almost without opposition ; they
become the basis of new estimates and new appropriations.
The natural effect of indiscriminate expenditure is to discourage private
enterprises. The government not only undertakes works for which private
capital might be secured, but it has entered upon the purchase of existing
canals and river improvements. The administration of the river and har-
bor improvements is honest ; the engineers, for the most part army offi-
cers, capable ; but the whole system is crippled by the constant interfer-
ence of Congress. If that body choose to begin a Hennepin Canal involv-
ing twenty to thirty million dollars, the War Department has no choice
but to carry it out. A certain degree of discretion the secretary does ex-
ercise ; he withholds money from the grosser jobs ; he accumulates bal-
ances unexpended, against the year when the bill may fail ; he insists on
complete and comprehensive plans before great works are undertaken ; but
he is subject to calls for information from either House, and to attacks to
which he cannot reply. Let me quote one single sentence from one of
these Congressional amenities ; it appears that the Secretary of War had
approved of the removal of an engineer whom the Oregon people liked,
but in whom the department lacked confidence. A senator from Oregon
said : " Mr. President, I desire at this time to call the attention of the
Senate and the country, and especially of the people of the Pacific North-
west, who are vitally interested in the speedy opening up of the Columbia
River to free and unobstructed navigation, and who are, by reason of their
peculiar situation as to transportation facilities, in no humor to be trifled
with by questionable arbitrary action or non-action upon the part of exec-
utive officers, civil or military, some of the latter of whom have grown in
a measure officially haughty, arbitrary, and to a degree intolerant, not to
64 THE BIOGRAPHY OF A RIVER AND HARBOR BILL
say insolent, by reason of having been for years protected in desirable as-
signments in Washington, mainly, as many are, through the baneful instru-
mentality of social influence rather than real merit, which in this great
capital too often makes and unmakes men, to the manner in which, during
the fall o\ 1886, the will of Congress was set aside, and the execution of its
act in appropriating $187,500 for the continuance of work on the canal and
locks at the Cascades of the Columbia suspended, unjustifiably, to the
great detriment of the people's interest, and to fix, if we can from the rec-
ord, the just responsibility for this high-handed, unjustifiable, and wholly
illegal act upon the official or officials justly chargeable therewith."
The administrative commissions, particularly those in charge of the
Mississippi and Missouri River improvements, chiefly made up of expert
engineers, fare no better. Their plans are rejected, their estimates cut
down, their members assailed. The bill of 1887 takes pains to ignore the
Missouri River Commission. In fact, all commissions and all secretaries are
considered servants of Congress.
The secretaries are at least not appointed by or removable by Con-
gress, but by the third member of the legislative body. We left H. R.
10419 waiting for the President's signature ; it waits still. In the absence
of any power to veto items in appropriation bills, a power repeatedly sug-
gested in Congress of late, he exercised the one possible check on bills con-
taining a mixture of good and bad provisions, and on bills which reach him
too late for examination. In refusing to sign it, he followed the worthy
example of Jackson, Tyler, Polk, Pierce, and Arthur; as Congress ad-
journed before ten days had elapsed, it did not become a law.
Let us sum up the brief existence of H. R. 10419 : it was prepared by
a laborious committee, and introduced by an honest chairman ; it contained
some provisions good and useful ; and some needless, wasteful, and badly
applied. There was opportunity for fair debate in the House. The Sen-
ate loaded it with amendments, some of them iniquitous ; and the House
conferees yielded to them. It was passed because a majority of the mem-
bers of both Houses desired specific appropriations, which could not be ob-
tained without voting the whole bill. It failed, because, while pretending
to be for the public good, its real basis was a combination of private and
ignoble interests.
OiW^JUl^Ur
Cambridge, Massachusetts.
JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
No Indian nation on this continent has such a remarkable journalistic
history as the Cherokee. Se-quo-yah, their great schoolmaster, in 1824
perfected for them an alphabet, the first alphabet ever invented by aborig-
ines for more than a thousand years. Se-quo-yah, like many inventors,
had been ridiculed and even accounted crazy by his tribe, and on many a
fine morning his wife, who had little patience with his meditative and
philosophic ways, could be heard chiding him for his laziness. In spite
of all opposition he persevered, and having spent nearly as much time in
persuasion as he had in inventing, he at length convinced his people of its
utility. Hence it was that, in November, 1825, the Cherokee Council
resolved to procure two sets of type, one fashioned after Se-quo-yah's
invention and the other English, and also to procure a printing-press, and
the general furniture necessary for a well equipped printing-office. By the
following November the work had so far assumed shape that the Council
resolved to erect "a printing office, 24x20 feet, one story high, shingle
roof, with one fire-place, one door in the end of the house, one floor, and
a window in each side of the house two lights deep and ten feet long, to
be chincked and lined in the inside with narrow plank." February 21,
1828, the iron printing-press of improved construction, and fonts of Cher-
okee and English type, together with the entire outfit necessary for
publishing a newspaper, was set up at New Echota, Georgia, and the first
copy of the Cherokee Phoenix was given to the world. The Phoenix was
not only the first aboriginal newspaper on this continent, but it was
printed in the most perfect orthography. Elias Boudinot was the first
editor. He was aided by the missionaries of the American Board. The
Phoenix was the average size of the newspapers of the day, and one-half of
it was printed in the Se-quo-yah alphabet. By resolution of the Council,
the printer's apprentices were boarded and clothed at the expense of the
Council, and the editor was forbidden to publish scurrilous communica-
tions, or anything of a religious nature that would savor of sectarianism.
The first prospectus read as follows : " The great object of the Phoenix
will be to benefit the Cherokees, and the following subjects will occupy
the columns: First, the laws and public documents of the nation ; second,
accounts of the manners and customs of the Cherokees, and their progress
in education, religion, and arts of civilized life, with such notices of other
Vol. XVIII.— No. i.— 5
66 JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
Indians as our limited means of information will allow; third, the princi-
pal interesting events of the day ; fourth, miscellaneous articles calculated
to promote literature, civilization, and religion among the Cherokees." Such
were the topics that were printed, and that Se-quo-yah read in letters of
his own invention in the columns of the Phoenix within two years after
the acceptance of the alphabet by the nation. No publication was ever
received with such profound wonder by the world as this. Copies were
ordered from all parts of the country, and the London Times exchanged
with it on equal terms. The publication of the Phoenix seemed to be the
key which was to unlock the intellectual faculties of the Cherokees. In
November, nine months after the first copy of the Phoenix was published,
a missionary wrote from among them, that in his opinion at least three-
fourths of the nation could read and write in their new alphabet. Publi-
cations from the press at New Echota were eagerly sought. " Their
enthusiasm is kindled," wrote Mr. Worcester; " great numbers have
learned to read and write, and are circulating hymns and portions of the
Scripture ; they are eagerly anticipating the time when they can read the
white men's Bible in their own language." Within five years of the adop-
tion of Se-quo-yah's alphabet, the press at New Echota had turned off
733,800 pages of good reading, which was eagerly read and re-read by the
Cherokees. Two years after the number had increased to 1,513,800 pages,
and before Se-quo-yah's death, in 1842, more than 4,000,000 pages of good
literature had been printed in Cherokee, and that not including the circu-
lation of the Phoenix. As early as 1830 the pages of the Phoenix began
to forecast the doom that was inevitably to follow. Even then the
Cherokees had given up all hope of receiving justice from the hands of
our government. February 19, 1 831, the Phoenix appeared with only a
half sheet. " The reason is," said an editorial, " one of our printers has
left us, and we expect another, who is a white man, to quit us very soon,
either to be dragged to the Georgia penitentiary for a term of years, or for
his personal safety to leave the nation to let us shift for ourselves. But
we will not give up the ship while she is afloat. We have intelligent youth
enough in the nation, and we hope before long to make up our loss. Let
our patrons bear in mind that we are in the woods, and, as it is said by
many, in a savage country, where printers are not plenty, and, therefore,
they must not expect to receive the PJioenix regularly for a while, but we
will do the best we can." One month later another printer was carried
away to prison, his only misdemeanor being that he had not taken the
oath of allegiance to the governor of Georgia, and dared to reside within
the limits of the Cherokees. In June, 1832, the PJioenix remarked, "The
JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS 67
gigantic silver pipe which George Washington placed in the hands of the
Cherokees as a memorial of his warm and abiding friendship has ceased to
reciprocate ; it lies in a corner, cold, like its author, to rise no more." Only
three years more was the Phoenix allowed to do its good work. In Octo-
ber, 1835, tne Georgia Guard took possession of the newspaper establish-
ment, and its further issue was prohibited unless it would uphold the
course of Georgia against the Indians. Thus perished one of the most
remarkable newspapers, both in its origin and results, that America has
ever known. But if the newspaper died ingloriously, far more so was the
fate of its editor, Elias Boudinot. In his early day he was a very promis-
ing lad, who attracted the attention of some missionaries. His name was
Weite, but he was given the name of Elias Boudinot, after the governor
of New Jersey and the president of the American Bible Society, for it
was the custom for a Cherokee youth to be given an English name when
he entered an English school. Elias Boudinot was one of those placed in
the mission school at Cornwall, Connecticut. He was good-looking and
pleasing in manners, and was welcomed into the homes of many of the
good families in that quiet village. Among the maidens of the place was
Hattie Gold, " the village pet," who was given somewhat to romantic ideas.
The young Indian, so the story goes, was frequently received at her
father's house, and, unthought of by the parents, a mutual attachment
sprung up, which ripened into love ; it was not long before the little
town of Cornwall was stirred to a fever heat by the announcement that
Hattie had plighted troth with Boudinot. Her parents were fiery in their
opposition, but tears or entreaties were of no avail, and the words were
spoken that linked their fortunes for life. Taking his bride to Georgia,
Boudinot dwelt among his tribe, conspicuous as a scholar and one favored
by the Great Spirit. His life was a busy one, as he aided the missionaries
in their work, translating portions of the Scripture, tracts, and hymns.
During the administration of Andrew Jackson he took a prominent part
in administering the affairs of the Cherokees, and especially toward the
last, took a leading part in making arrangements for his people to emi-
grate from the land they loved so well. Precious to these sons of the
forest were their homes, and the burial-places of their fathers. While
a few favored the treaty of 1835, the majority did not. It is a matter of
historical record that the Ridges, Boudinot, Bell, Rogers, and others who
signed the treaty very suddenly changed their minds in respect to the
policy of a removal. They had been as forward as any of the opposite
party in protesting against the acts of Georgia, and as much opposed to
making any treaty or sale of their country up to the time of the mission
6$ JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
of Schermerhom as any in the nation. Suspected of treachery, bribery,
and corruption, the opposition was so fiercely aroused, that on June 22,
1839. these men were cruelly assassinated. Mr. Boudinot was decoyed
from the house he was erecting a short distance from his residence, and
set upon with knives and hatchets ; he survived his wounds just long
enough for his wife and friends to reach him, though he was insensible.
Thus perished the first aboriginal editor on this continent. Whether,
he and his comrades did betray their countrymen for gain cannot now be
determined, but it hardly appears possible that one who had served his
people so faithfully should at that late day have done so with traitorous
intent. Indeed, a careful reader of history must feel that, while Boudinot
acted not according to the will of many, that he did what he thought to
be for their future welfare, and even Chief Ross, of the opposing faction,
deeply regretted his hasty execution. Let the mantle of charity surround
his memory ; let us not believe him a traitor to the people whom he had
so long served ; let us revere his memory for the great work he performed.
For a long time there were no further attempts at journalism among
the Cherokees. The years succeeding 1835 were years of affliction to this
race. Driven from their land by the bayonet of the white man, they were
obliged to go to their Western home, and during the removal nearly
four thousand of them perished. The following years were spent in re-
cuperating and reorganizing, and it was not until 1844 that the nation
assumed the publication of another paper. In 1843, the Baptist Mission
started a paper called the Cherokee Messenger, that for some years did an
important work in the Cherokee country. A decade of years had, indeed,
brought about a great change in the condition of the Cherokee people ;
the mission press had continued to do its noble work, and when the Na-
tional Council had their new press in working order, three separate printing-
offices were in existence. The Council called their new paper the Cherokee
Advocate. " The object of the Council in providing for the publication of
the Advocate" said an editorial in the first issue, " is the physical, moral,
and intellectual improvement of the Cherokee people. It will be devoted
to these ends, and to the defense of those rights recognized as belonging
to them in treaties legally made at different times with the United States,
and of such measures as seem best calculated to secure their peace and
happiness, promote their prosperity, and elevate their character as a dis-
tinct community." Realizing their need of outside assistance, they called
for patronage from the citizens of the United States. The executive de-
partment of the Cherokee government have among their archives copies
of the Advocate from October, 1845, to November, 1846, but it continued
JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS 69
to be printed until 1853 or 1854, when it was suspended. It did not at-
tract the attention which the Plicenix did, as the novelty of Cherokee jour-
nalism had subsided, and it was further removed from the people Perhaps
one of the .most remarkable features of the Advocate was the publication
from week to week in the Se-quo-yah alphabet, of chapters from Bunyan's
Pilgrim s Progress, which was prepared also in book form. The second
Cherokee Advocate was started in 1870, and is the official organ of the na-
tion ; it has for its object the diffusion of important news among the Cher-
okee people, the advancement of their general interests, and the defense
of Indian rights; it is published weekly in the English and Cherokee lan-
guages, and nothing of an abusive, personal, or partisan character is admit-
ted to its columns. Since February 10, 1881, the editor is required to have
one whole page of the paper published in Cherokee, and for this purpose
he is authorized to employ two Cherokee boys as apprentices for the term
of two years, who read and write Cherokee and English, and pay them,
during the time, a sum equal only to the cost of their board and clothes;
and the bill for their services is paid quarterly by order on the treasury of
the nation.
The editor is elected by joint vote of both branches of the National
Council, and receives from the public treasury the sum of $600 per annum
for his services. It is the duty of the editor to exercise control over the
establishment ; to furnish such matter for publication from time to time
as, in his judgment, will promote the object of the institution. He must
see that the material and property of the concern is properly preserved
and economically used ; he receives the subscription moneys at the rates
fixed by law, but himself fixes the rate of advertising, excepting such public
advertising as may be furnished by the officers of the nation, as provided
bylaw ; he makes quarterly accounts to the treasurer, and an annual one to
the principal chief, for the information of the National Council, of the
condition of the paper and its interests, with an itemized account of its
receipts and expenditures. It is his duty also to print and deliver,
within a reasonable time, to the principal chief, such laws and treaties as
may be required by the National Council ; also the blanks required by the
officers of the nation, and such other printing as may be required in pub-
lic service. Before entering upon his duties he is required to fill a bond
of a nature to satisfy the principal chief, who also appoints a translator
whose duty it is to translate into the Cherokee language for publication
such laws, public documents, and articles as the editor shall select for his
paper. This translator receives $400 annually for his services, and, like the
editor, is subject to removal by the principal chief for improper conduct
;o JOURNALISM AMONG THE CHEROKEE INDIANS
or failure to perform prescribed duties. Though the Advocate is an eight
wide column folio, it is furnished by the nation to all subscribers for $i
per year, and is sent free to all non-English-speaking Cherokees, thus be-
coming an important educator to a multitude who otherwise could not
read at all, as the alphabet is so well adapted to the language, being sylla-
bic, that a smart Cherokee-speaking youth can learn to read in three days.
The Advocate was first edited by W. P. Ross ; D. Ross, David Carter, and
James Vann followed. After tl}e war, W. P. Boudinot took charge, who
was followed by George Johnson and E. C. Boudinot ; after which Daniel H.
Ross, the present editor.
At Vinita there have been three attempts at Indian journalism ; the
two first were papers called the Vidett and the Herald. Each had a brief
existence. The Indian CJiicftain was established September 22, 1882.
Robert L. Owen, a descendant of the old chief, Occonnostotas, became edi-
tor, February 9, 1883. Mr. Owen is now United States Indian agent at
Muskogee. He was succeeded as editor by Wm. P. Ross, now Superin-
tendent of Public Instruction for the Cherokee Nation. S. J. Thompson
was the next editor. The paper is now published by M. E. Milford, and
very ably edited by Mr. John L. Adair, who is a near relative of the late
assistant chief, Wm. P. Adair. The CJiicftain is printed only in English.
A small paper was recently started at Dwight for the purpose of furnish-
ing religious reading, printed in both English and Se-quo-yah's alphabet.
^sk^-l^ V^W^y^
MINOR TOPICS
HOW PRESIDENT LINCOLN EARNED HIS FIRST DOLLAR
One evening when a few gentlemen, among whom was Mr. Seward, had met in
the executive chamber without special business, and were talking of the past, Mr.
Lincoln said, " Seward, you never heard, did you, how I earned my first dollar ?"
" No," said Mr. Seward. "Well," replied he, " I was about eighteen years of age,
and belonged, as you know, to what they call down South the ' scrubs ; ' people
who do not own land and slaves are nobody there, but we had succeeded in rais-
ing, chiefly by my labor, sufficient produce as I thought to justify me in taking it
down the river to sell. After much persuasion I had obtained the consent of my
mother to go, and had constructed a flat-boat, large enough to take the few barrels
of things we had gathered down to New Orleans. A steamer was going down the
river. We have, you know, no wharves on the Western streams, and the custom
was, if passengeis were at any of the landings, they were to go out in a boat, the
steamer stopping, and taking them on board. I was contemplating my new boat,
and wondering whether I could make it stronger or improve it in any part, when
two men, with trunks, came down to the shore in carriages, and looking at the dif-
ferent boats singled out mine, and asked, ' Who owns this ? ' I answered modestly,
' I do.' ' Will you,' said one of them, ' take us and our trunks out to the steamer ? '
' Certainly,' said I. I was very glad to have the chance of earning something, and
supposed that each of them would give me a couple of bits. The trunks were put
on my boat, the passengers seated themselves on them, and I sculled them out to
the steamer. They got on board, and I lifted their trunks and put them on the
deck. The steamer was about to put on steam again, when I called out, ' You
have forgotten to pay me.' Each of them took from his pocket a silver half-dollar
and threw it on the bottom of my boat. I could scarcely believe my eyes as I
picked up the money. You may think it was a very little thing, and in these days
it seems to me like a trifle, but it was a most important incident in my life. I
could scarcely credit that I, the poor boy, had earned a dollar in less than a day ;
that by honest work I had earned a dollar. The world seemed wider and fairer
before me ; I was a more hopeful and thoughtful boy from that time. William D
Kelley in Rices Reminiscences of Abraham Lincoln.
J2 MINOR TOPICS
AMERICAN PROGRESS
[The following lines from the clever pen of Hon. Charles K. Tuckerman, one of our contribu
tors, recently appeared in the little paper published by the American Exhibition in London.]
To thee, O Mother England, it is meet,
Tli at we, who from thy womb inherited
The blood of nations, from thy tongue our tongue,
And from thy books the justice of our laws,
Should in maturer years our offerings bring,
And at thy feet our fruit of progress lay.
Progress, the motto of our infancy,
Taught by our sires of old in English homes ;
Progress, the seed which, in our furrows sown,
Struck deeper for the richer virgin soil,
And grew the stronger in our Western air,
Till she, in turn, was fed by those she fed.
And it was well we parted and that lands
Still more remote sent seekers to our own,
Till race with race commingling, Briton, Celt,
Teuton and Gaul, hardened by toil's alloy,
And spurred by the compulsion of their needs,
Learned the self-poise of independent thought
Thence springs Invention, born Minerva-like,
From brains of God-like men ; for they are Gods
Who o'er the thoughtless masses of mankind
Strike from the uncouth rock the precious ore
And shape it into beauty and employ ;
Who wing our words with lightning, and defy
With timeless currents distance and degree ;
Who ease the hands of labor, till a touch
Achieves what toil, with less perfection, wrought,
Saving the friction in the rush of life.
Therefore 'tis meet that to this capital,
Stirred by the breath of millions, whose deep hum
Is but the murmurous echo of the roar
Of her resounding commerce ; where the tide
Of her great river is but glimpsed between
The floating bulwarks of her argosies ;
Here, where historic names recall our own,
Caught and repeated by our States and towns ;
MINOR TOPICS
Here, where yon reverend Abbey's walls enshrine
Our poets and scholars mingling with her own.
'Tis meet to bring the samples of our Art :
For where could welcome sound more honestly
Than where these English voices are upraised
To greet us in our own proud kindred tongue ?
If what we offer, then, merits applause,
Strike on the anvil with a ringing sound,
Welding the links of that unending chain
Which binds us in the bonds of brotherhood :
And where we move to criticism, strike
With equal force and spare not ; give and take,
That each be spurred to wholesome rivalry.
Thus shall Invention from itself invent
New ways to save the nations and evolve,
From out the widening law of human needs —
Stronger than treaties, loftier than wars —
The pledge of hearts to universal Peace.
73
ENOCH CROSBY NOT A MYTH
Editor of Magazine of American History : — The article on Enoch Crosby, in
your May number, by Mr. Guy Hatfield, contains, in the opinion of the writer,
errors of statement and conclusion which call loudly for correction. In speaking
of a recent article in the Atlantic, by Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, he says : '' But
especially important is this article in an historical point of view, from its complete
demolition of the myth that one Enoch Crosby was the original of Harvey Birch —
an idle tale that has been told and written over and over again, in so many forms
and at so many times, that perhaps half the people one meets really believe it."
Miss Cooper's article, instead of demolishing the claim of Crosby's friends,
would tend, as I think, only to establish and confirm it in the mind of candid read-
ers. She says " The leading idea " (of the Spy) " was suggested by a conversation
with Governor Jay, who related a remarkable incident with which he had been
himself connected. He was at that time chairman of a secret committee, appointed
by Congress, to counteract the efforts of the English leaders to raise troops among
the people of the country. Among other agents employed in connection with these
duties was a man, poor, ignorant as far as instruction went, but cool, shrewd, and
fearless. It was his office to learn in what part of the country the agents of the
crown were making their secret efforts to embody men, to repair to the place, to
enlist, to appear zealous in the royal cause, and to obtain as much information of
the enemy's plans as possible. This man was repeatedly arrested by his country-
74 MINOR TOPICS
men. On one occasion he was condemned to the gallows, and only saved by
speedy and secret orders to his jailer. The name of the agent was never revealed,
and the facts stated above were the sole foundation for the character of the Spy."
It is clearly established that Crosby resided at that time in the locality where these
acts were performed, that he was employed by that committee for just such duties,
that he performed like services and met with similar experiences. As the com-
mittee employed more than one agent, it is possible that Mr. Jay may have alluded
to some other man. Crosby, who was intelligent and conscientious, believed he
was the person described, and so did the men of that generation who remembered
the events and knew the circumstances. Mr. Jay was the only one who could say
Crosby was not the man ; and although he lived until after the publication of Bar-
num's book, and must have been informed of its claims, we have never heard that
he disputed it. Mr. Cooper did not know the real name of his hero ; Miss Cooper
knows no more in regard to it than her illustrious father, and Mr. Hatfield is no
wiser than they.
The following letter recently found by Mr. C. P. Carter, of Kingston, New
York, among the papers of Major Van Gaasbeck, of the Revolution, written by
Nathaniel Sackett, one of Mr. Jay's associates on that famous committee, confirms
the truth of Crosby's story :
" Dear Sir : I had almost forgot to give you Directions to Give our friend an
opportunity of making his escape. Upon our plan you will take him prisoner with
this partie you are now watching for. His name is Enoch Crosby, alias John Brown.
I could wish that he may escape before you bring him Two miles on your way to
the Committee. You will be pleased to advise with Messrs. Cornwell and Captain
Clark on this subject, and form such plan of conduct as your wisdom may direct,
but by no means neglect this friend of ours.
I am Sir, your humble serv't,
Fishkill, January 7th, 1777. Nath'l Sackett."
So much as to the conclusions. Furthermore, Mr. Hatfield says, " Unfor-.
tunately for Mr. Barnum, he added a ' conclusion ' to the original edition of his
book, in which, unhappily forgetting the lessons taught by the author of The Spy,
he spoiled the whole thing by pathetically saying that for all his revolutionary
services Crosby received only two hundred and fifty dollars. This ' conclusion,' it is
perhaps unnecessary to state, has been omitted in later editions of this Enoch Crosby
myth." In reply, permit me to say, that the last, and probably the only edition of
this work printed within the past fifty years was issued by myself and contains
every sentence, word, letter and I believe punctuation contained in the original,
published by J. & J. Harper, in 1828. The circumstances attending its republi-
cation were as follows. The work had a peculiar local interest in this community,
as it was the old Dutch Church in this village in which Crosby was confined and
MINOR TOPICS 75
from which he made his famous escape. The book was out of print and had be-
come exceedingly rare. Many fathers and mothers desired that their children
might read a story which they had enjoyed in their youthful years. With some
difficulty I procured a copy, and obtaining the consent of the Messrs. Harper,
printed it as a serial in the Fishkill Weekly Times. From the type set for our paper
we printed sheets for a few hundred books, which we had neatly bound for those
who wished the narrative in a more permanent form. To the original volume we
added about one-third more matter regarding Crosby's subsequent life, an ac-
count of his descendants with anecdotes and sketches of local contemporary
history.
Our book is printed more closely and with narrower margins, so that the
matter which makes 206 pages in one, is contained in 118 of the other. This
" cheap, thin duodecimo " has unfortunately drawn this fire of adverse criticism,
and having been instrumental in its production I hope to be allowed to speak in
its defense. _ _ _
James E. Deane
THE STUDY OF STATISTICS
Professor Herbert B. Adams writes to the New York Independent on the recent
meeting of the American Historical Association : " Perhaps the strongest current of
popular and contemporary interest was that introduced from the nation's capital by
Colonel Carroll D. Wright, U. S. Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics,
in his vigorous plea for ' The Study of Statistics in American Colleges. ' Contrary to
general expectation, Colonel Wright showed that statistics form one of the most
interesting and profitable lines of inquiry that can occupy students of historical and
political science. Statistics, if properly collected, are history in the most concrete,
accurate and imperishable form. The results of the census of any given decade,
when cast into Arabic numerals, or simple mathematical tables, will endure when
word-tablets have been dashed in pieces by historical criticism. Colonel Wright's
plea was not alone for the teaching of statistical science in our higher colleges and
universities, but also for a vital connection between higher political education and
practical civil service. He said : ' I would urge upon the Government of the
United States and upon the Governments of the States, the necessity of providing
by law for the admission of students that have taken scientific courses in statistics
as honorary attaches of, or clerks to be employed in the practical work of statistical
offices.' He also urged the Government-training of educated young men for the
consular and diplomatic service, and for other branches of practical administration.
This thought, which is now historical, will bear political fruit."
;6 MINOR TOPICS
PRESENT HOME OF THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY
ITS MEMORIES AND ASSOCIATIONS
[By a member of the Delta Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity, New York University.]
The present home of the Magazine of American History in Scribner's
building in Broadway, was for several years occupied as the rooms of the Delta
[New York University) Chapter of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. The rooms were
especially hallowed, for there formerly had been the sanctum of that loyal Psi U.,
Dr. J. G. Holland.
It was sad for us to leave these old rooms with their many pleasant memories and
associations indissolubly connected with them. Many graduates were present at
our farewell meeting. One graduate brother in his eloquent reminiscence drifted
into the speculation once announced by our late professor, John W. Draper. In
substance he spoke as follows : " Every sound uttered in a room and every ray of
light thrown on the walls produces a permanent change in the molecular structure of
the walls. The sounds are recorded as unerringly as the foil preserves the dots and
dashes in the phonograph ; and the walls are ever ready and sensitive plates, always
taking pictures. " Now, should anyone discover a process of unraveling from these
walls the sounds recorded upon them, and of developing this wonderful negative —
what sounds ! what scenes ! Psi Upsilon would no longer be a secret society.
The stirring eloquence of the Sophomore, the flashes of wit, bursts of humor, the
pathos of the eulogies on our departed brethren, the melody of the songs we have-
sung, all would be revealed to the ears of the profane and uninitiated. And by the
other process, unhallowed eyes would behold the walls adorned with scenes both
terrible and sublime. The roaming of the goat (strange, none believe we have
a goat), the ghastly grinning skulls, the bloody guillotine, the black coffin, the fires,
the tortures, the terrible ordeals to test freshman fidelity, and all the unutterable
mysteries would stand forth in fresco on the walls of our lodge room ! And it
would be converted into history for succeeding generations !
This delicate process will be found when the Philosopher's stone works its magic.
And then the " New Zealander " will sit upon the ruined towers of our great bridge,
and then the walls of the Hall of the Delta will be a dust heap ; thus will Psi Up-
silon preserve her mysteries. Her words are graven on the tablets of our hearts,
her deeds are painted in living colors on our memories — they are immortal.
Walter Booth Adams
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
An Interesting Private Letter of President James Buchanan.
[Editor of Magazine of American History. — The following letter came into my hands through
the favor of a gentleman of world-wide fame, who received it from Mr. Phelps some time before his
death. I am left free to publish it, but the responsibility is my own. The letter bears date Decem-
ber 22, i860, two days after the secession of South Carolina. At that time there was some hope that
Congress might agree to the Crittenden Compromise. An act of Congress of 17th December had
authorized the issue of treasury notes ; the advertisement inviting bids for them was then out, and
New York was looked to for the bulk of subscriptions to the loan. Thus we may behold the
key to the letter. It is evident from Mr. Buchanan's appeal to his personal and political friend that
he wished to convince him that it would be for the interest of New York to take the loan. Deeply
regretting the attempted secession of the cotton States as Mr. Buchanan did, this and other docu-
ments show that he never had the slightest inclination to part with them. — Horatio King.]
President Buchanan to Royal Phelps, Esqr.
Private.
Washington, 22nd December, i860.
My dear Sir,
I have received your favor of the 20th inst. and rejoice to learn the change of
public sentiment in your city. Still secession is far in advance of reaction and
several of the Cotton States will be out of the Union before anything can be
done to check their career. I think they are all wrong in their precipitation, but
such I believe to be the fact.
It is now no time for resolutions of kindness from the North to the South. There
must be some tangible point presented and this has been done by Mr. Crittenden
in his Missouri Compromise resolutions. Without pretending to speak from au-
thority, I believe these would be accepted though not preferred by the South. I
have no reason to believe that this is at present acceptable to the Northern Senators
and Representatives, though the tendency is in that direction. They may arrive at
this point when it will be too late.
I cannot imagine that any adequate cause exists for the extent and violence of
the existing panic in New York. Suppose most unfortunately that the Cotton States
should withdraw from the Union, New York would still be the great city of this
continent. We shall still have within the borders of the remaining States all the
elements of wealth and prosperity. New York would doubtless be somewhat
retarded in her rapid march ; but possessing the necessary capital, energy, and
enterprise, she will always command a very large portion of the carrying trade of
;S ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
the very States which may secede. Trade cannot easily be drawn from its ac-
customed channels. I would sacrifice my own life at any moment to save the
Union, if such were the will of God ; but this great and enterprising and brave
nation is not to be destroyed by losing the Cotton States ; even if this loss were
irreparable, which I do not believe unless from some unhappy accident.
I have just received an abstract from the late census.
In the appointment of Representatives the State of New York will have as
many in the House (30) as Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana,
Texas, and South Carolina united. The latter State contains 296,422 free people
and 408,905 slaves, and will be entitled in the next Congress to 4 Representatives
out of 233.
Why will not the great merchants of New York examine the subject closely
and ascertain what will be the extent of their injuries and accommodate themselves
to the changed state of things ?
If they will do this, they will probably discover they are, more frightened than
hurt. I hope the Treasury note Loan may be taken at a reasonable rate of
interest. No security can be better, in any event, whether the Cotton States secede
or not. Panic in New York, may however, prevent ; because panic has even gone to
the extent of recommending that the great city of New York shall withdraw her-
self from the support of at least 25 millions of people and become a free city.
I had half an hour and have scribbled this off in haste for your private use.
Your friend,
very respectfully,
James Buchanan.
Royal Phelps, Esq.
Unpublished Papers Relating to the First Steamboat on Lake George.
From the Collection of Hon. T. Romeyn Beek, M.D. , of Albany, now in possession of
Mrs. Pierre Van Cortlandt.
[The multitude of pleasure seekers who frequent Lake George and its picturesque surround-
ings every season will appreciate the following copies from the original documents, showing how
recent was the first steamboat enterprise in connection with that charming inland sea. — Editor.]
Clermont, 17 July, 1821
We have agreed with James Caldwell Esq. and his associates to grant them a
license to build a boat or boats on Lake George and to give them our right to
an exclusive Navigation thereon during the continuation of our State and United
States patents upon the following terms. We will charge them nothing till they
receive eighteen pr Cent clear of all expenses upon the Capital they expend in
such boat or boats and if the boat or boats makes a greater dividend, we then
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 79
are to divide equally with the said Company, one half of such excess going to the
Company the other half to Rob1 R Livingston & Rob1 Fulton ; that is, if the boat
clears twenty per Cent then one per Cent is to be paid to the Subscribers and so
in proportion for every increased dividend. As soon as the Company is formed, a
proper article of Agreement to be entered into by the said Rob. R Livingston
Rob. Fulton and the said Company.
Signed, Rob. R Livingston
Rob. R Livingston for Rob. Fulton.
I accept on the part of the Company the above agreement.
Signed, James Caldwell.
Subscribers to the Steam Boat to ply from Caldwell on Lake George to
Ticonderoga distance 31^ miles, The Boat to Contain about 50 Passengers
and to be built and Navigated to the Best advantage as the Company may think
proper ; . . .
We the Subscribers agree to the above and do hereby sign our names and do
promise to fulfil the Same.
Isaac Kellogg, Ticonderoga, 3 shares
Robert R. Livingston & Rob* Fulton
James Caldwell
Teatherson W Haugh
Stephen Van Rensselaer
Stephen Lush
Nicholas Low,
Harris A Rogers. (Caldwell)
Mr. Ferris (Glen's Falls)
Abraham Wing (Sandy Hill)
Mathew Gregory
McTavish M?Gilvaray & Co Montreal
Dudley Walsh
John Read,
Shares, $500.
Memorandum, probably addressed to Livingston & Fulton,
" We wish to have your opinion respecting the power of the engine necessary to
propel a boat of the dimensions mentioned & on which plan you would advise the
Machinery to be constructed — our first idea purporting the dimensions was 80 feet
keel & 18 feet beam, but we thought the length would not afford sufficient accomo-
dations aft the works, as it will be necessary to have a Cabin for the Ladies Separ-
ate from dining Cabin which ought be 30 feet long.
3
do
2
do
1
do
1
do
1
do
2
do
i
do
1
do
i
do
1
do
1
do
1
do
1
do
So
NOTES
NOTES
The character of Joseph ii — In
his fifth volume Mr. Lecky writes : " The
death of Maria Theresa, in 1780, and the
accession of Joseph II. to his full power,
gave a complete change to Eastern poli-
tics. The character of Joseph is a cu-
rious study. He was undoubtedly su-
perior in intelligence to the average of
European monarchs ; he was as exem-
plarv as his mother in the industry with
which he devoted himself to the duties
of his office, and he had a most real de-
sire to leave the world better than he
found it ; but a deplorable want of sound
judgment, of moral scruple, and of firm-
ness and persistency of will, made him
at once one of the most dangerous sov-
ereigns of his time. Ambitious, fond of
power, and at the same time feverishly
restless and impatient, his mind was in
the highest degree susceptible to the po-
litical ideas that were floating through
the intellectual atmosphere of Europe,
and he was an inveterate dreamer of
dreams. Large, comprehensive, and
startling schemes of policy — radical
changes in institutions, manners, tenden-
cies, habits, and traditions — had for him
an irresistible fascination ; and when he
saw, or thought he saw, the bourne to
which political forces were tending, it
was his natural impulse to endeavor to
attain it at once. His policy in foreign
affairs consisted chiefly of daring and
adventurous enterprises, rashly underta-
ken and fitfully and irresolutely con-
ducted. In domestic affairs it consisted
partly of great reforms in perfect accord-
ance with the most enlightened political
speculation of his time, but forced into a
precipitate maturity, with no regard for
the habits, wishes, and prejudices of his
subjects, and partly of a series of unjus-
tifiable attempts to destroy the restraints
which, in some parts of his dominions,
custom and law had imposed upon his
authority."
Political parties — The surprising
tenacity with which people cling to the
party of their choice very naturally di-
rects attention to the historical character
of these parties. They are like large
trees which cannot be blown over, be-
cause of the years during which their
roots have been striking deeply into the
earth. To become acquainted with ei-
ther of the great political parties of our
land you must trace its roots all through
those agitations which have followed
each other ever since the birth of the
nation, and especially through that great
conflict which almost accomplished its
disruption. These parties are what they
are to-day because they are not a fabri-
cation but a growth, and therefore they
cannot be taken apart and built up at
will. — Levi Parsons i?i the Princeton Re-
view for June. _^____
Satire and humor — We were talking
over the use and abuse of satire, and it
so fell out that three of the party in suc-
cession gave each an illustration of the
keenest thrust he had ever heard. Prob-
ably some of them have been put in print
before ; but they were new to the Spec-
tator, and he ventures to assume that
they will be new to some of his read-
ers. " I think," said number one, "that
the keenest sentence I ever remember to
have heard, I once heard from Chauncey
M. Depew in a private conversation at a
NOTES
8;
dinner-table. Whether it was original
with him or was a quotation from some
one else I do not remember ; I only re-
member the aptness of the characteriza-
tion. Speaking of (for he shall be
nameless), Mr. Depew said, ' He knows
less about the subjects about which he
does know anything, and more about the
subjects about which he does not know
anything, than any man I ever knew.' '
" That is a pretty good characterization
of the self-conceit of ignorance," said
number two, "but I think that I can
match it with a sentence characterizing
the incompetence of an incompetent. It
was said of some one, happily I do not
now remember who, that considered as a
success he was an utter failure, but re-
garded as a failure he was a magnificent
success." " I have never forgotten,"
said number three, " a rebuke adminis-
tered by a professor of mental science in
college, now dead, whose patience had
been exhausted — and it was not exhaust-
less, for he was a nervous and somewhat
irritable man — by the pranks of a class-
mate of mine. The professor had spo-
ken to the student two or three times in
recitation, with no permanent effect. At
last he turned to him, and, bringing his
hand down on the table with a tremen-
dous blow — a favorite gesture of his when
aroused — he cried out : ' S , be still !
or you will rise from the dignity of a nui-
sance to that of a calamity. ' ' " What is
the difference between satire and hu-
mor ? " asked one of the company.
"One," said the Deacon, "is concentrat-
ed frost ; the other is concentrated sun-
shine. " — Christian Union.
Settlement of the northwest
Vol. XVIII.-No. i.— 6
territory— On the 7th of April, 17.SS,
General Rufus Putnam with about fifty
men landed at the mouth of the Mus-
kingum River to found a colony. A
million and a half of acres had been
purchased of the government, and these
men and their associates, most of them
officers of the Revolution, had deter-
mined to begin a settlement which they
expected to be the germ of new States.
The plan had been formed five years
before while the army was still in camp
at Newburgh, and had received the
hearty approbation of the commander-
in-chief. Suspended for a while, the
project was renewed a few years later,
and in 1787 application was made to
Congress to purchase land.
This proposal of the Ohio Company
to purchase land and establish a colony
produced a marked impression on
Congress. It interested, indeed, the
whole country. It was the immediate
occasion of the passage of the cele-
brated ordinance of 1787. The pro-
posed settlers wanted a good govern-
ment under which to live, as well as
lands on which to make new homes.
Congress knew that no better men
could be found to whom to intrust the
responsible work of building up new
institutions in a new region ; and with-
out hesitation, and with a unanimity
almost unexampled, enacted such an
ordinance of government as they de-
sired.
In the following winter the pioneers,
leaving their families at home, made the
tedious journey across the mountains,
built boats in which to descend the
Ohio, and landed at the destined place
Monday, April 7, 1788. In a short
82
QUERIES— RErLIES
time came many others, and before the about half the present State of Ohio,
close of that month the machinery of was established by the proclamation of
government was in operation, and the the Governor. I. W. Andrews
County o\ Washington, then embracing Marietta, Ohio, June, 1SS7.
QUERIES
The stamp act — Editor Magazine
of American History : — I notice there is
great want of uniformity among those
who are considered good authority as to
the Stamp Act of 1765. Will some of
your readers please say the exact time
when the British Stamp Act was passed,
(the year, month, and day) and when it
took effect, and also the same as to the
repeal of the Act ? R. W. Judson
Ogdensburg, N. Y.
Pittsburgh, New York — Editor
Magazine of American History : — Where
is (or Avas) Pittsburgh, Dutchess County,
New York, and what is the present title
of the Presbyterian Church of Pitts-
burgh, of which Rev. John Clark was
pastor in 1803 ?
J. H. S.
Boodle — What is the origin and mean-
ing of the word " boodle " ? N.
REPEIES
"A historic meeting-house" [xvii.
474] — The writer of the very interesting
article under the above title in the June
Magazine considers the meeting-house
of the First Baptist Church in Boston, of
meeting-house which is represented in
the sketch, and which, in 1828, was re-
moved, as the article states, to South
Boston. This was exactly a " century
and a half" after the building of the
which he gives a sketch made by him in first meeting-house, if this was built, as
stated, in 1678. The Boston Almanac
gives the date as 1679, ana" tne Me~
morial History of Boston (Vol. 1, p.
195), as 1680. As the house was closed
by order of the General Court, March 8,
1680, it would seem that it was probably
in use in 1679, and its erection may have
been begun in 1678.*
The sketch is very valuable, as prob-
ably the only one in existence of either
of the two meeting-houses of the First
Baptist Church on Salem Street, corner
1828, as the original structure. He
says : " The venerable edifice was
erected in 1678, and like an ancient for-
tress at the outpost of a frontier, had for
a century and a half stood the battle and
the breeze ; " and again : " This meeting-
house had been quietly erected, and, in
1679, was opened for public worship."
In the Boston Almanac for 1843,
which contains historical sketches of the
churches in Boston, illustrated by en-
gravings, and evidently prepared with
great care, it is said (p. 69, First Baptist
Church), "in 1771, a new house was
built, which was afterwards considerably
enlarged." It must have been this second
* Armitage (History of the Baptists, New
York, 1887). " The church entered [the house]
for worship, Feh. 15, [1679.] " p. 703. This
perhaps should settle the question.
REPLIES
83
of what is now Stillman Street, * which
were predecessors of the church-build-
ing on the corner of Union and Han-
over streets, so long graced by the min-
istry of the courtly and eloquent Rollin
H. Neale ; and the whole article is a
worthy contribution to the history of
the Baptist denomination in America.
D. F. L.
Manchester-by-the-Sea.
Tianderra [xvii. 350] — The word
Tianderra is Mohawk, yet in a list of
New York Indian names which I have
made it does not appear in connection
with Ticonderoga, but with Unadilla ;
Tianderah, or Teyonadelhough, being
an early name for that Indian village.
Morgan gives " Place of Meeting," as
the meaning of Unadilla, the Oneida
form of the name. In 1691 Peter
Schuyler mentioned Chinanderoga, and
I think this is the first record of the
name of Ticonderoga. It is said
to mean " Noisy Water," a name aptly
rendered by the French term Carillon.
With one of its synonyms, one name of
the first Mohawk castle is almost iden-
tical, having been sometimes written
Tionondoroge in early days. Onjuda-
racte is sometimes given as the head of
Lake Champlain ; i. e. , at Ticonderoga ;
but the earliest rendering of the name
of the place was by Father Jaques, An-
diatarocte, " Where the lake is shut in."
Lake George he named at this time St.
Sacrament. W. M. B.
* "At the foot of an open lot running down
from Salem Street to the mill-pond," as seen in
the engraving.
The church of England i.\ new
vork [xvii. 528]— Whether the Church
of England was legally the Established
Church in New York was a controverted
point at an early day. The royal com-
missions to its governors all speak de-
cidedly of their duty to maintain and
promote its worship, but this was a dead
letter for a long time. Practically the
rulers generally favored the Church of
England, but equal privileges were ex-
tended to all. The royal commission
was construed after a time to have es-
tablished it in what was a royal prov-
ince ; and similar views were held of the
legal rights of the Established Church
in other colonies. To this it was replied
that such establishment could only take
place by common, parliamentary, or colo-
nial law, and it had no legal support.
Judge William Smith, in his History of
New York (1756), has a full statement
of the question, and considers that there
was no establishment.
W. M. Beauchamp
Baldwinsville, N. Y.
Public land [xvii. 263] — Editor
Magazine of American History : — The in-
quiry concerning the location of the
" township of public land " granted by
Congress to Lafayette in 1824, is an-
swered in Donaldson's Public Domain
(Washington), p. 211, where the state-
ment is made " that it was afterward
located in Florida."
Geo. W. Knight
Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
^4
SOCIETIES
SOCIETIES
THE AMERICAN* HISTORICAL ASSOCIA-
TION held its fourth annual meeting in
Boston, the sessions commencing on the
2 i st of May and closing with a Field-day
in Plymouth on the 25th. The presi-
dent was Mr. Justin Winsor, of Har-
vard ; the secretary Professor Herbert B.
Adams, of Johns Hopkins ; the treas-
urer Clarence C. Bowen, of the New
York Independent; the executive coun-
cil, Charles Deane, LL.D. , vice-presi-
dent of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, Professor Franklin B. Dexter,
of Yale, Professor William F. Allen, of
the University of Wisconsin, and Hon.
William Wirt Henry, of Richmond, Vir-
ginia. The American Economic Asso-
ciation met at the same time and place,
presided over by the accomplished Gen-
eral Francis A. Walker, and the two as-
sociations, in joint session, opened their
meetings on the 21st in the Institute of
Technology. Each president read an
able and interesting paper — General
Walker on " The efforts of manual la-
borers to better their condition," and
President Winsor on " The manuscript
sources of American history " — both of
which were received with great favor.
General Walker reviewed at consider-
able length the changes that have oc-
curred in economic opinion during the
past twenty-five years, saying that " it
would be scarcely conceivable to-day
that an economist of learning and repu-
tation should gravely argue that the
employer is, in effect, the trustee of the
laborer's wages ; and that it really does
not matter whether in any given time
and place he pays the laborer more or
pays him less, since by as much as the
employer may underpay the laborer in
any instance, by so much will he cer-
tainly and indefeasibly overpay him in
some subsequent instance." President
Winsor's excellent paper is published in
full in another part of this magazine.
On Monday the Historical Associa-
tion met in one of the banquet halls
of the Brunswick hotel, seventy-five
members present, among whom were S.
L. Caldwell, LL.D., ex-president of
Vassar College ; Judge Mellen Cham-
berlain, of the Boston Public Library ;
Hon. John Jay, president of the Hugue-
not Society of America ; Professor
Johnston, of Princeton ; Hon. Andrew
White, LL.D., honorary president of Cor-
nell ; Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, editor of the
Magazine of American History ; Professor
Moses Coit Tyler, of Cornell ; Rev.
Philip Schaff, D.D., of Union Theo-
logical Seminary, New York city ; Col-
onel Thomas W. Higginson, of Cam-
bridge ; General George W. Cullum,
of New York city ; Professor Arthur M.
Wheeler, of Yale ; Professor E. J.
James, of University of Pennsylvania ;
B. Fernow, of the State Library, Al-
bany ; Charles J. Stille, LL.D., of
Philadelphia ; Judge Charles A, Pea-
body, of New York city ; A. A. Graham,
secretary of the Ohio Historical Society,
Columbus ; Edmund Mills Barton, of
the Antiquarian Society, Worcester ;
Miss Katharina Coman, professor of
history at Wellesley ; Professor E. N.
Horsford, of Cambridge ; Gordon L.
Ford, of Brooklyn ; Professor Rich-
mond Smith, of Columbia College ;
SOCIETIES
*5
Colonel Carrington, of Boston. The pa-
pers read and discussed in the morning
session were : " Diplomatic prelude to the
Seven Years' 'War," by Herbert Elmer
Mills, fellow in history at Cornell ; " Si-
las Deane," by Charles Isham, of New
York ; " Historical grouping," by James
Schouler, of Boston ; and " The Consti-
tutional relations of the American Colo-
nies to the English Government at the
commencement of the American Revo-
lution," by Judge Chamberlain, of Bos-
ton. At the evening session papers were
read as follows : " Historical sketch of
the Peace Negotiations of 1783," by
Hon. John Jay ; " Leopold von Ranke,"
a memorial sketch, by Professor Her-
bert B. Adams ; and " The Parliament-
ary Experiment in Germany," by Dr.
Kuno Francke, of Harvard. Each of
these scholarly studies was discussed
with animation by several of the gentle-
men present. Meanwhile the Economic
Association was wrestling with grave
problems at the Institute of Technology,
General Walker in the chair. The
" problem of transportation " was ad-
mirably treated by Professor James ;
" The long and short haul clauses of
the inter-State commerce act," a review
of the methods followed or attempted
to be followed, both in the United States
and abroad, to prevent unjust local dis-
crimination, was the subject of an inter-
resting study by Edwin R. A.* Seligman,
Ph.D., of Columbia College ; and other
papers of great interest were presented.
On Tuesday morning, May 24, " A
study in Swiss history " was read before
the Historical Association by Professor
John Martin Vincent, of Johns Hop-
kins. An interesting feature of the ex-
ercises was the informal address of ex-
President Andrew D. White, of Cornell
University, who, from study and ac-
quaintance with Swiss institutions, was
especially qualified to speak of them.
He said, by way of discussion, that the
paper pleased him because of the com-
parative method used in it. He thought
it very desirable that students and others
should be led to compare the institu-
tions of other countries with those ot
the United States, in order to get new
ideas. Travelers in Switzerland found
that in many things they do better there
than here. Roads, for instance, were
greatly superior to those of New York
State. The next paper was " The
Spaniard in New Mexico," by General
W. W. H. Davis ; following which
came " The historic name of our coun-
try," by Professor Moses Coit Tyler,
of Cornell. In the afternoon a joint
session of the Historical and Economic
Associations, of exceptional interest, was
held in Cambridge, and the papers read
were, " Our legal-tender decisions, a
critical study in our Constitutional his-
tory," by Professor E. J. James; "The
biography of a river and harbor bill,"
by Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, of Har-
vard ; and " The study of statistics
in American colleges," by Hon. Car-
roll D. Wright, Commissioner U. S.
Bureau of Labor Statistics, who said :
" America had no counterpart to the
European school of statisticians,, but
the European statisticians lacked the
grand opportunities which were open to
the American. Dr. Engel had once
said to him that he would gladly ex-
change the training of the Prussian Bu-
reau of Statistics for the opportunity to
$6
SOCIETIES
accomplish what could be done in this
country. Mr. Wright then went on to
describe the extent to which education
in statistical science in the universities
of the continent was provided for. In the
American institutions of learning no such
provision had been made, although Pro-
fessor Ely at Johns Hopkins, and Pro-
fessor Smith at Columbia, were doing
good work in giving instruction in sta-
tistical science. Mr. Wright next dwelt
on the importance of having trained
statisticians. He regretted the use of
the word ' theory ' of statistics, as calcu-
lated to make an unfortunate impression
on the popular mind. He would sub-
stitute 'the science of statistics.' He
insisted upon the need of having as
statisticians men of high attainments as
well as special training."
The Tuesday evening and closing ses-
sion of the Historical Association was
held at the Brunswick, the papers being,
" The government of London," by Pro-
fessor Arthur M. Wheeler, of Yale ;
' Religious liberty in Virginia, and
Patrick Henry," by Charles J. Stille,
LL.D., of Philadelphia; "The Amer-
ican Chapter in Church History," by
Dr. Philip Schaff, of Union Theological
Seminary, New York, with a "Brief
report on historical studies in Canada,"
by George Stewart, Jr., President of the
Historical Society, Quebec. Officers
for the ensuing year were elected as fol-
lows : president, William F. Poole,
librarian Public Library, Chicago ;
vi< -presidents, Charles Kendall Adams.
president of Cornell University, Hon.
John Jay of New York ; secretary,
Herbert B. Adams, Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity ; treasurer, Clarence Bowen, of
New York ; executive council, ex-Presi-
dent Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio ;
John W. Burgess, A. M., of New York,
Professor Wheeler of Yale, Hon. Will-
iam Wirt Henry of Virginia. An im-
portant committee was appointed to
consult with the national legislature con-
cerning the preservation of historical
manuscripts, consisting of Justin Winsor,
Hon. John Jay, Senator Hoar, ex-Presi-
dent Andrew D. White of Cornell, ex-
President Rutherford B. Hayes, A. R.
Spofford of Congressional Library, and
Theodore F. Dwight of the State De-
partment library.
These sessions in Boston were agree-
ably varied by charming social hospi-
talities. Mr. and Mrs. Justin Winsor
received the members of the two asso-
ciations at their home in Cambridge ; a
delightful trip to Wellesley College was
enjoyed, where tea was served by the
young ladies to three hundred or more of
the learned guests : and there was also
a similar reception given at University
Hall, Harvard College, by the profes-
sors in history and political economy.
Several private breakfasts were grace-
fully tendered to members of the associ-
ations ; and the several societies, libra-
ries, and picture galleries of the city
were thrown open to all during the
meetings. On Wednesday the members
of both associations went to Plymouth
for the day, where they were entertained
by the Pilgrim Society, and an elegant
dinner served. These useful and pro-
gressive associations are to be congratu-
lated on the success of their Boston
meetings, separately and jointly, as well
as upon the influence they are exerting
on the community at large in the public
SOCIETIES
87
discussions of so many questions of vital
importance to all intelligent Americans.
Literary and historical society
of Quebec — At the annual meeting of
this Society, the following gentlemen
were elected office bearers for the year :
president, G. Stewart, Jr., D. C. L.,
F.R.G.S., F.R. S.C. ; vice-presidents, VV.
Hossack, Cyr. Tessier, John Harper,
Ph.D., George R. Renfrew; treasurer,
Edwin Pope ; librarian, F. C. Wurtele ;
recording secretary, J. Elton Prower ;
corresponding secretary, Wm. A. Ashe ;
council secretary, A. Robertson ; curator
of museum, P. B. Casgrain, M.P. ; curator
of apparatus, W. C. H. Wood ; extra mem-
bers of council, J. M. Lemoine, F.R.C.S.,
Peter Johnston, H. M. Price, W. Clint.
THE MANCHESTER HISTORICAL SO-
CIETY (mass.), recently formed, is col-
lecting and preparing materials for a
town history. The two hundred and
fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation
of the town will occur in 1895. The
officers are G. F. Allen, president ; D.
F. Lamson, vice-president ; A. S. Jewett,
recording and corresponding secretary ;
D. C. Bingham, treasurer.
The new jersey historical society
held an interesting meeting May 19, at
Newark. The executive committee re-
ported that steps had been taken to
secure the erection of a handsome and
commodious building for its uses, on the
lot owned by the Society in West Park
Street, Newark. Several subscriptions
had been made and more were expected,
so that there was reason to hope that
within another year the Society's invalu-
able collections would be arranged in a
fire-proof building. The Rev. Robert
C. Hallock, pastor of the old 'I ennenl
Church, near Freehold, New Jersey, read
an exceedingly interesting sketch of the
Church made famous by the Tennents
during more than half a century prim
to the Revolution, and gave many facts
never before published regarding the
earliest history of the Church. John F.
Hageman, Esq., of Princeton, read a
brief sketch of a French colony located
at Princeton immediately after the
French Revolution of 1789, from one
of which families was descended Paul
Tulane, the founder of the New Orleans
University, of whom he gave an inter-
esting memoir. Judge F. W. Ricord
read an eloquent eulogy of the late
Marcus L. Ward, ex-governor of New
Jersey, and for some years chairman of
the Society's executive committee. The
Rev. Aaron Lloyd, of Belleville, read a
history of the Reformed Church at that
place, with incidental notices of the early
history ot the Reformed Dutch Church
and its early ministers in America. Mr.
William Nelson read a short paper on
" The Founding of Paterson, New Jersey,
as the Intended Manufacturing Metrop-
olis of the United States," in which he
described the connection of Alexander
Hamilton with that magnificent scheme,
and his sagacious though futile efforts
to establish at the Falls of the Passaic a
manufacturing town where might be pro-
duced all the manufactures needed to
make the United Statesindependentof for-
eign nations. Hamilton's part in originat-
ing this grand project has never been even
alluded to by his biographers, and Mr. Nel-
son made good use of the original mate-
rials which he had gathered for his paper.
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
A PARAGRAPH running through the newspapers of late is curiously suggestive : it is
entitled •• True Stories from the School-Room." Mattie, after studying history for a year,
wrote. " One of the principal causes of the Revolution was the Stand Back " (Stamp Act).
Another historical genius, some inglorious Macaulay or Gibbon, was asked to name
two provisions of the ordinance of 1787. His answer was, " Flour and bacon."
Perhaps the young lady of fashion had been educated under similar auspices who,
while being handsomely entertained by some of the first people of Boston a year or two
since, very innocently asked, " was Sir Edmund Andros really killed at the Battle of
Bunker Hill ? "
Or the New York lawyer whose eloquence at the bar had made him famous in a score
of States besides his own, who paid a glowing tribute in a public address to "Alexander
Hamilton, lawyer, statesman, and financier, the successful advocate of liberty of the press
in the great Zenger trial, the friend of Washington, and the victim of Aaron Burr's fatal
bullet ! '*
T. W. HiGGlNSChv says, " There is no danger of anyone's acquiring any great range of
historic knowledge without corresponding toil ; but it is possible so to lay the foundations
of such knowledge that later toil shall be a delight, and the habit of study its own exceed-
ing great reward." What is interesting is apt to be remembered. Children in nine cases
out often are worried and wearied with hard names and troublesome dates which have
to them no meaning and give them no pleasure. History cannot be taught in our schools
with the names and dates left out ; but it can, and it ought, be made something more
than a dry and forbidding list to the young mind. Every name and every date should
have its proper setting, picturesque, romantic, or serious, as the case may be, the whole
to form a vivid and imperishable picture ; and when the charm of special investigation
can be subsequently added to class studies the result will be an intellectual activity
through which history never fails to become absorbing and fascinating, and we all know
that it is inexhaustible in its themes. With culture in history all other culture is practi-
cally assured.
The first pupil in Columbia College when it was revived after the Revolution was the
subsequently famous De Witt Clinton. In the early part of the year 1784 the subject of
education in New York was very much discussed in social circles, in the pulpits, in the
newspapers, and in the various political and business assemblages, without material re-
sults. What to do with King's College, which had been arrested in its usefulness eight
rs before and the edifice converted into a military hospital, became a question of vital
importance. The institution was finally reorganized in May of that year; but want of funds
prevented final arrangements for its opening until 1787. Meanwhile General James
Clinton, the brother of the governor, arrived in New York city one bright summer morn-
ing in J7<"4 accompanied by his precocious son of fifteen whom he was expecting to place
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS 89
in Princeton College, New Jersey. Mayor James Duane, who was one of the committee
em-powered to provide for the college, was unwilling- that a Clinton should go out of the
State for his education, and hastened to consult Rev. Dr. William Cochrane, a scholar of
great eminence, and through animated argument induced him to undertake the tuition of
young De Witt Clinton, and of such others as might apply, until professorships in the col-
lege could he established. The bright boy passed a creditable examination before the
newly elected Regents of the University, having been prepared at Kingston under the in-
struction of John Addison, and was admitted to the junior class. He was graduated as
Bachelor of Arts in 1786. The first lady to receive from Columbia College a similar
degree [a century later] was Miss Mary Parsons Hankey, at the recent commencement
exercises, in 1887. Her course of study has embraced eight languages — Latin, Greek,
English, Anglo-Saxon, French, German, Italian, Spanish — besides mathematics, historical
and natural science, astronomy, chemistry, and many other branches of learning, all of
which have been pursued in the retirement of her own home on Staten Island. Notwith-
standing the many objections made against co-education, Columbia College is justly proud
of this achievement ; a storm of applause greeted the young lady as she appeared on the
stage in the Academy of Music to receive her well-earned honors from President Barnard.
In some historic writings one may read more between the lines than in the printed
page. The charming little romance connected with the marriage of John Tyler during
his Presidency has hitherto been much clipped in its recital. The full truth we may. how-
ever, venture to tell our readers in a few words. In the winter of 1843, Miss Julia Gardi-
ner of New York spent some weeks in Washington, and the President met her and tell in
love with her. Before she left the capital he asked permission to correspond with her,
and wrote many beautiful letters in the course of the following summer months, which
were received and answered from her country home at Easthampton, Long Island. But
no mention was made in those letters of love. When winter came the family returned to
New York as usual, their residence being in Lafayette Place : and as the season advanced
Miss Gardiner and her father, Hon. David Gardiner, were once more in Washing-
ton. At the White House on the evening of Washington's birthday, the President taking
the young lady on his arm, promenaded through the East Room, and seriously proposed
marriage. She was startled, undoubtedly somewhat bewildered, and very promptly de-
clined the honor. But the President saw in her rosy smile more than she herself knew.
That same evening arrangements were perfected for the pleasure trip down the Potomac
which terminated so fatally. Miss Gardiner and her sister were taken to the White House
until after the funeral of their beloved father, and then returned to New York. A few
weeks later the President repeated his proposal of marriage by letter and was accepted.
Then came serenades by proxy, the band from the Navy Yard and ships discoursed sweet
music beneath the young lady's window in Lafayette Place ; once came a song, written
by the President, and set to the music of the guitar beginning with :
" Sweet lady awake, from thy slumbers awake.''
But not until the day of the wedding on the 26th of June, 1844, did the bride elect again
meet the President in person.
At the recent alumni dinner at the famous West Point military school [9th June, 1 8S7 J
General Isaac R. Tremble of Baltimore presided, representing the class of 1822. We can
'/''■
ife- 1
7 _>
92 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
er realize how far into the past were his cadet clays by a glance at J. Milbert's pictur-
esque drawings of West Point in 1826, published in Paris and very slightly known in this
try. The opening after-dinner speech on this memorable occasion was by Major Al-
fred Mordecai, of the class o\ 1825. He told how he came to West Point on the Chancel-
lor Livingston, the last steam-boat built by Fulton, and how he had skated on the ice of
a pond where the present parade ground stretches away as a velvety carpet of grass. In
this connection the views o\ Milbert will be specially interesting. At this dinner General
George W. Cullum represented the class of 1833 ; General William T. Sherman and Gen-
eral Stewart Van Fleet were present from the class of 1840 ; General William Farrar
Smith, from the class ot 1845 ; and Colonels James Hamilton, Daniel T. Van Buren, and
William W. Burns, from the class of 1847.
It is one hundred and ten years, or will be in December of the present year, since
Governor George Clinton with Lieutenant-Governor Pierre Van Cortlandt, John Jay, and
one or two members of the New York legislature made observations along the Hudson
for the selection of a new fort to replace Forts Montgomery and Clinton, and afterwards
n council with Washington determined upon West Point. Early in the following January
1778, with the snow two feet deep, devoid of tents or suitable tools, the first embankment
was thrown up under the direction of General Israel Putnam. From that hour until to-
day no foreign power has ever been able to pass up and down the Hudson River without
doing homage to the American flag.
The present scattered condition of letters and manuscripts, which although in private
hands are of great importance to the nation's history, has awakened general interest, as
will be noticed by the action of the American Historical Association in taking measures,
agreeablv to President Winsor's suggestions, toward the establishment of an unpaid
national commission for the preservation of such data. The committee to whom was
referred the subject of assistance by the general government in collecting, preserving, and
calendaring American historical manuscripts have since reported as follows :
I. The need of such assistance is abundantly shown in the present neglected and perishing
condition of a great number of most valuable historical manuscripts now in private hands in this
country.
II. The propriety of such assistance by the government in the general direction now indicated
i> already established by numerous precedents, in special cases, on the part both of the national
government and of the governments of the several States.
III. For the purpose of testing public opinion upon this subject during the coming year, and
e-pecially of consulting the government respecting the establishment of a competent, unpaid
national commission for the collection, preservation, and utilization of historical manuscripts, it is
recommended that a committee of seven be appointed by this Association, to take such measures
as may seem to them most suitable, and to report the same at our next annual meeting.
IV It is recommended that this committee consist of Justin Winsor, George F. Hoar, John
fay, Andrew D. White, Rutherford B. Hayes, A. R. Spofford, and Theodore F. Dwight.
V. The -.ecretary of the Association is requested to send at an early date a copy of these reso-
lution-, to each member of the committee just named.
(Signed) Moses Coit Tyler,
Geo. W. Cullum,
Melleri Chamberlain,
Herbert I'.. Adams, Secretary.
BOOK NOTICES
BOOK NOTICES
93
A HISTORY OF ENGLAND in the Eight-
eenth Century. By William Edward Hart-
pole Lecky. Vols. V. and VI. smill Svo, pp.
602 and 61 1. New York. 1887. D.Apple-
ton & Co.
Mr Lecky could not have found a period in
all British history better suited to his masterly
pen than the ten years following 1784, with
which these later volumes are concerned. The
triumphant accession of William Pitt to office,
and his character and administration, form the
starting point from which a multitude of attract-
ive themes fall into line and crowd each other
with surprising rapidity and in consummate
order, holding the reader's intense interest
until the final page is reached. The evidences
of unwearied industry on the part of the author
of this great work are impressive. He has not
only acquired the extensive knowledge of events
and affairs necessary for this marvelously well
sketched picture of English history, but he has
(by no miraculous instinct) prepared himself
through untiring study for the grasping of his
material, with all its wealth and variety, and the
adjusting of it in exact accordance with the
severest requirements of literary art. His style
is graceful, clear, forcible, and natural, and his
work as a whole is by far the best on the subject
that has been produced within the century.
Mr. Lecky brings all the statesmen of prom-
inence who were factors in the movements of
the period into a strong light. He says. ''It
is possible for a man to be immeasurably superior
to his fellows in eloquence, in knowledge, in
dexterity of argument, in moral energy, and in
popular sympathy, and at the same time plainly
inferior to the average of educated men in
soundness and sobriety of judgment. The best
man of business is not always the most enlight-
ened statesman, and a great power of foreseeing
and understanding the tendencies of his time
may be combined with a great incapacity for
managing men or for dealing with daily difficulties
as they arise. No English statesman conducted
the affairs of the nation at home and abroad, for
a considerable period, more skillfully or more
prosperously than Walpole. But he undoubt-
edly lowered the moral tone of public life, and
he scarcely left a trace of constructive states-
manship on the Statute Book. Chatham was
one of the greatest of orators, one of the great-
est of war ministers, and his general views of
policy often exhibited a singular genius and
sagacity ; but he had scarcely any talent for in-
ternal administration, and he was utterly incap-
able of party management. Peel far surpassed
all his contemporaries in the masterly skill and
comprehensiveness with which he could frame
his legislative measures, and in the command-
ing knowledge and ability with which he could
carry them through Parliament ; but he showed
so little of the prescience of a statesman th:
the three most important questions of the day —
the questions of Catholic Emancipation, Parlia-
mentary Reform, and Free Trade — his mistake-,
were disastrous to his country and almost ruinous
to his party ; and although he appeared for a
time one of the greatest of parliamentary Leaders,
he left his party dislocated, impotent, and dis-
credited. The most remarkable of all instances
of the combination of the more dazzling attributes
of a parliamentary statesman is to be found in the
young minister elected in 1784. His position
at this moment was one of the most enviable
and most extraordinary in history. With one
brief interval he continued to be Prime Minister
of England until his death. For nearly nineteen
years he was as absolute as Walpole in the Cab-
inet and Parliament, far more powerful than
Walpole from his hold upon the affections and
admiration of the people."
Mr. Lecky proceeds to draw one of the most
critical and exhaustive portraits of young Pitt
that we have ever seen. His college life, his
experience in Parliament at twenty-one, his
character as a minister, as a legislator, his skill
as a financier, his first policy, and his miscon-
ception of the French Revolution, are all
brought into effective review. Mr. Lecky dwells
upon his untiring study as a boy — study that
was neither desultory nor aimless — and upon the
methods through which he acquired his facility
in the use of words so essential to a great de-
bater. At the same time our historian tells us
that "those who read his speeches will derive
little from them but disappointment. What
especially strikes the reader is their extreme
poverty of original thought. They are admirably
adapted for their original purpose, but beyond
this they are almost worthless." The career of
the Prince of WTales, and the characters of Joseph
II. of Austria, the Empress Catherine II., and
Gustavus III. of Sweden, are painted in vig-
orous lines. The Polish question is discussed at
length, and the causes of the French Revolution
are brought out in imperishable colors. " It is
one of the great interests in reading history in
original diplomatic dispatches that it enables us
to trace almost from the beginning the rise of
great questions, which first appear like small
clouds scarcely visible on the horizon, and grad-
ually dilate and darken till the whole political
sky is overcast," says Mr. Lecky, who then pro-
ceeds to record tha first secret dispatch in 1791,
which was the little cloud in the metaphor.
In the history of Continental Europe, Mr.
Lecky says the nineteenth century may be truly
said to begin with the French Revolution ; in
94
BOOK NOTICES
English history with the opening; oi the French
1793, English parties and politics then
ss viiii! a new complexion. The elose of the
eful part of the ministry of Pitt is con-
ed by Mr. Lecky an appropriate termina-
tion for a history of England in the eighteenth
century, although he continues his narrative of
that portion of his work relating to Ireland as
far as the Legislative Union of 1S00. One of
the strong and attractive features of the second
volume is the space allotted to the history of
manners and morals, to industrial developments,
prevailing opinions, theories, conditions, and
tendencies of the different classes of the English
people. It is thus the reader obtains a more
comprehensive understanding of the movements
and proceedings of statesmen and parliaments,
and becomes better informed as to the true
of power and its sources — the permanent
forces of a great nation.
LIFE OF HENRY CLAY. By CarlSchurz.
2 vol-.. i6mo. pp. 424 and 382. (American
Statesmen Series.) New York and Boston.
[S87. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Considering their authorship and the circum-
stances immediately preceding their publication
those two volumes must take a conspicuous place
at once in the admirable series to which they
belong. As a literary man, Mr. Schurz has
held for thirty years a position well up in the
roll of American authors, and probably at the
very top of the list of foreign-born writers who
have adopted America as their home. Mr.
Schurz first became known as a writer and ora-
tor during or shortly before the presidential
campaign that resulted in the election of Abra-
ham Lincoln, and his speeches were replete
with a wonderful knowledge of and insight into
the then hopelessly complicated political affairs
of the nation. Since that time his political
training has led him to make a close study of the
various developments of our political field, and
it is not strange that the brilliant career of
Henry Clay should have attracted his attention.
I'm- ..ably the plain truth is, that the publishers
asked him to write the volumes for the series,
but his familiarity with the subject was no doubt
largely acquired long before the opportunity
came for him to place his conclusions in book
form.
As a statesman's estimate of a statesman, the
work is very suggestive. Mr. Schurz came upon
the stage shortly after Mr. Clay left it. Mr.
Clay's career crowned the period of the nation's
early manhood, and ended just before the ques-
tion of negro slavery culminated in actual war-
fare. Mr. Schurz took up the burden almost at
once, and although he did not exactly follow the
path marked out by the earlier statesman, he
followed it nearly enough to be in close sym-
pathy with the methods of thought and action
that prevailed in the earlier day so far as they
were lofty and noble.
The politics of the time have never been more
keenly or, upon the whole, more justly dealt
with than in Mr. Schurz' analysis. He does not
hesitate to give what he regards as the true ver-
sion even when it does not present the subject
of the memoir in so honorable a light as might
be wished. It is in short a worthy review of the
career of a man who was beyond question a
power among the intellectual lights of his gener-
ation, and who commands to this day a large
measure of admiration from a generation that
has only known him by tradition.
THE STORY OF ASSYRIA. From the rise
of the Empire to the fall of Nineveh (con-
tinued from "The Story of Chaldea"). By
Zenaide A. Ragozin. [The Story of the
Nations] i2mo, pp. 450. New York and
London. 1887. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
It was our agreeable duty a few months since,
to write in terms of the warmest commendation
of the " Story of Chaldea," by Madam Ragozin,
and we now welcome her continuation of that
excellent historical study, with more than ordi-
nary interest. In the "Story of Assyria," the
author exhibits the same breadth of research and
critical scholarship as in her preceding work
with added charms in the way of smoothness of
style, the natural effect of persistent and con-
scientious study in connection with continuous
practice. The book opens with a chapter en-
titled, "The Rise of Asshur," which embraces
the first conquest of Babylon. " The Sons of
Canaan," their migrations, religion, and neigh-
bors, occupy the third, fourth, and fifth chap-
ters, although the subject is diversified in many
particulars. Of all the " Sons of Canaan," the
Phoenicians achieved the widest renown and
performed the most universally important his-
torical mission. They conquered the world — as
much of it as was then known — not by force of
arms, but by enterprise and cleverness And
they knew more of the globe upon which we live
than any other people of their time, for they
alone possessed a navy, and ventured out to sea.
They were the first wholesale manufacturers,
and they gave the alphabet to the world. The
author informs us, that the prosperity of most
of the Greek Islands dates from the establish-
ment on them of Phoenician colonies. But,
although their chief reputation is based upon
their maritime expeditions, they were quite as
intrepid travelers by land as by sea. " On the
Asiatic continent, they practiced caravan trading
on an immense scale ; the great caravan routes
of the East were almost entirely in their hands.
They were the privileged traders of the world.
HOOK NOTICES
They were not a literary or intellectual people.
Although they invented the alphabet, they used
it chiefly for purposes of book-keeping and
short inscriptions. They left no poetry, no
historical annals, no works of science or specu-
lation. They do not seem to have cared even
to publish their own very remarkable experi-
ences and exploits ; these brought them wealth,
what cared they for fame ?" Another interest-
ing chapter of the volume is entitled, " The
Pride of Asshur," and treats among other
themes of the fall of Samaria, the expeditions
into Media, and the career of Sargon, and his
wonderful palace. The work is very rich in in-
formation, and is admirably written.
JOHN SEVIER AS A COMMONWEALTH
BUILDER. A Sequel to the Rear-guard of
the Revolution. By James R. Gilmore
(Edmund Kirk). 161110, pp. 321. New
York. 1887. D. Appleton & Co.
In the character of John Sevier, Mr. Gilmore
has found a comparatively unworked field for
study of a half military, half political nature.
"In the Rear-guard of the Revolution," he
dealt more especially with the military passages
of Sevier's life, and, as we noted at the time,
was now and then in danger of permitting
romance to overshadow history. Much of the
material utilized in the former work has been
found available for the latter. The author has
made use of all the materials already published,
and has drawn as well from the rich stores of
tradition that lay open for him among the
mountains of Tennessee. Tradition, indeed,
must of necessity bear a conspicuous part in any
history, and especially in one that deals with
frontier life in a newly discovered country.
John Sevier was one of the conspicuous men
of his time, but, owing to the remoteness of his
field of activity from the centers of colonial
population, culture, and wealth, he has not
heretofore been placed where he deserved upon
the roll of fame. Mr. Gilmore's two books
should go far to make good the deficiency. As
fine instances of the stuff that the founders of
western civilization were made of, Sevier and
his contemporaries must ever serve as illustri-
ous examples.
THE UNIVERSAL COOKERY BOOK. By
Gertrude Strohm. Svo, pp. 245. New
York. 1887. White, Stokes & Allen.
We cannot exist without cookery or cooks,
and are always glad to welcome any good and
really helpful work on the subject. Miss Ger-
trude Strohm has compiled a volume which is
practical to say the least, furnishing abundant
recipes for household use, the greater part of
which have been selected from eminent authori-
ties. The work is divided into nineteen chapters,
beginning with soups and closing with miscellane
ous dainties for the sick, and home remedies.
It has one strikingly novel feature, consisting of
a series of quotations from popular writers,
forty or fifty in all, which have a distinct literary
flavor quite unusual in connection with cookery.
THE APPEAL TO LIEE. By Theodore I .
Munger. i6mo, pp. 339. Boston and New
York. 1887. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Mr. Munger is not, we believe, considered a
very " safe " author for young persons of an in-
quiring turn of mind. His previous works have
been regarded as somewhat subversive of cut-
and-dried opinions, and however admirable they
may have been as guides to truth in the abstract
they necessarily aroused the suspicions of many
excellent people who believe that all the truth
was known by the framers of the Westminster
Catechism. Mr. Munger points out that among
the learned professions the clergy alone decline
to submit to inductive methods of reasoning, but
he thinks that clergymen are slowly becoming
aware that their long immunity is nearing a close,
and they must consent to have their teachings
questioned in the light of reason — not of
dogma and revelation alone. Whatever may be
the truth in this regard, our author, in the four-
teen sermons here published, approaches his va-
rious subjects in a reverential mood, which is
maintained to the end. The first ten ser-
mons are designed to show the identity of faith
with the action of man's nature in the
natural relations of life; to show "that the
truth of God is also the truth of man." The
four concluding discourses were not written for
pulpit delivery, but were designed to meet the
needs of the great number of inquirers who, at
the present time, are asking what are the rela-
tions of evolution to Christian belief. Mr.
Munger's line of thought leads him much in the
same direction so ably mapped out by the late
Mr. Beecher. It is to be hoped that the orthodox
faculties will not condemn him unheard, for his
speech is of a nature that is gaining many adher-
ents, and no mere condemnatory assertions can
silence him or nullify the results of his teaching.
FAMILIAR SHORT SAYINGS OF GREAT
MEN with historical and explanatory notes.
By Samuel Arthur Bent, A.M. 121110,
pp. 665. Boston. 1887. Ticknor & Co.
Not the least valuable and convenient part of
this work is its explanatory and biographical
notes. Since it was first published a few years
ago it has passed through four editions, and now
the fifth appears in an enlarged and revised vol-
96
BOOK NOTICES
ume. The " short sayings" are chiefly confined
to oral utterances, the author not aiming- to
gather into these paragraphs the bright thoughts
of the makers of books except by way of com-
ment or comparison. We note however thai
in a few instances the boundary line between the
oral and the written has been crossed, and ap-
parently to advantage. The great men who
have distinguished themselves sufficiently for a
prominent place here are scattered all along the
centuries from Alexander the Great to President
Cleveland. They are by no means introduced
in chronological order. We find sayings of
Wendell Phillips, for example, " Revolutions
are not made, they come," preceding that of
Phocion, an Athenian general and statesman,
born about 402 B.C., who was the author of the
words, " The good have no need of an advo-
cate." Probably every cultivated person among
our readers knows who said, " Put your trust
in God. but be sure to see that your powder is
dry," and under what circumstances it was
uttered ; but how many can answer, without
going to the authorities, the question, " What
statesman made the famous ' bag and baggage '
speech ? " We find in these pages short sayings
from many eminent Americans, as well as kings,
potentates, and notables elsewhere ; one from
Douglas Jerrold, the humorist and dramatic
writer, born in London in 1803, is as follows
" My dear Mr. Pepper, how glad you must be
to see all your friends mustered ! " and one from
Martin Luther will be remembered, " To pray
well is the better half of study." The author says
Sir Edward Coke, Speaker of the British House
of Commons in 1593, is responsible for the terse
sentence so much used by English-speaking
people, " A man's house is his castle."
NATURAL LAW IN THE BUSINESS
WORLD. By Henry Wood. i6mo, pp.
211. Boston. 1887. Lee & Shepard.
This little book can be cordially recommended
to all classes of readers. It is full of earnest
thought and sound common sense. It aims to
expose the abuses and evils which masquerade
under the banner of laboi'. It appeals to the
honest understanding of the working man in
straight-forward, simple language, and shows
him that if there were no capitalists, there
would be no factories, mills, railroads, ma-
chinery, or wages. It points out the popular
misapprehension on many subjects. It says,
'• But a very small part of the wealth of
this country was inherited, probably nine-
tenths being the result of personal labor."
Attention is called to the fact that the scientist,
historian, and book-keeper are as much laborers
and producers as he who handles a pick, plow,
or loom. "The brakeman in the employment
of a railway company may, by industry, energy,
and ability, rise to be its president, but he is no
less a laborer than before, and as a man, not
necessarily any more worthy or noble. While
our sympathy may go out toward the laborer
who uses a shovel for eight or ten hours in a day,
we should not entirely overlook the weary book-
keeper or clerk who often works twelve or four-
teen hours, amidst unwholesome conditions and
impure air." The theory that the wage worker
must go into a combination for his own safety
and protection is shown to be as mischievous as
it is unsound. It seems to be the aim of labor-
organizations to make the laborer as inefficient
and impotent as possible. Their influence is
against the exercise of individual thrift and en-
ergy, and distinctly in the direction of depen-
dency. They rob a man of his manliness, and
the self-respect of every American laborer ought
to rebel against such tyranny. The author's
study of labor organizations has been made from
the laborer's standpoint, and in his interest.
" The welfare of labor is the welfare of society."
PAPERS OF THE CALIFORNIA HIS-
TORICAL SOCIETY. Vol. L, Part I.
8vo, pamphlet, pp. 94. Published by the
California Historical Society. San
Francisco. 18S7.
The initial number of a projected series of
historical publications by the recently re-incor-
porated and re-organized Historical Society of
California is a handsome and creditable produc-
tion. It is in itself a forcible illustration of the
march of culture. When a community has
reached a certain intellectual condition it cries
out against the needless obscurity which over-
hangs American history. It is an unmistakable
sign of promise when the educated mind, covet-
ing all modern light, finally rebels against dwell-
ing in the dark age's, so to speak, as to what the
busy generations of men have been doing in the
past. The movement to found a society of this
character is always one of significance, and how-
ever modestly it may begin its good work it is
sure to prosper. The contents of the elegant
number before us — the new society's first issue
— are of much interest. The Introduction pre-
sents a brief history of the society's stiuggles for
existence, with the names of its present officers,
and its honorary, corresponding, and active
members. Four valuable papers follow, " The
Local Units of History," by Martin Kellogg ;
" Data of Mexican and United States History,"
by Bernard Moses; "History of the Pious
Friend of California," by John T. Doyle, Presi-
dent of the Society; and " The First Phase of
the Conquest of California,"' by William Cary
Jones. We congratulate the institution upon
its beginnings and predict for it an honorable
and useful career.
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MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII AUGUST, 1887 No. 2
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
BY THE UNITED STATES TO THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND
THE last of a long line of Arctic discovery voyages projected by the
government of Great Britain was entered upon in May, 1845.
The Arctic ice region had been periodically fretted by expeditions for
more than three hundred years, in the hope of finding, through it, a shorter
commercial route from England to India. This long-sought passage was
only attainable through seas of ice, which presented a solid front, except
for a few brief months of the year, when, under the influence of sun and
tides, the ice packs would separate, permitting, through much labor and
peril, a passage to comparatively high geographic points. Through
repeated effort and disaster, it had been demonstrated that even in the
event of the discovery of a northwest passage to India, it would prove
worthless for commercial purposes. Much valuable information, however,
was secured. The locality of the mysterious magnetic pole was estab-
lished. The scanty flora and fauna of these frigid regions had been class-
ified, and much important geographic knowledge acquired. The Ameri-
can side of the assumed northwest passage had been fully explored, with
the exception of a stretch of country, a few miles in extent, which
remained a terra incognita. Whether or not there existed a complete sep-
aration by sea between the American continent and the regions to the
extreme north of the Arctic Circle, was still a disputed point. This purely
geographic question was considered of sufficient importance to warrant
a supreme effort for its settlement, and it was determined by the British
government to send out a final expedition, in which all available experi-
ence in Arctic matters should be concentrated. Sir John Franklin, the
renowned and trusted leader in three of the previous Arctic expeditions,
was chosen for its command, and on the 19th day of May, 1845, with two
ships, the Erebus and Terror, and one hundred and five picked officers and
men, thoroughly equipped, he left the shores of England on his perilous
mission.
The passage of this expedition across the Atlantic was safely accom-
Vol. XVIII.— No. 2.-7
9S PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
plished. On the 26th day of July, a little more than two months from the
date of sailing, the Erebus and Terror were sighted in Baffin's Bay, from a
passing whaleship. They were fast moored to an iceberg, evidently await-
ing the breaking up of an ice pack, which was seen to bar their passage
into Lancaster Sound.
This was the last ever seen of the Erebus and Terror.
Two years elapsed. Anxiety for the safety of Sir John Franklin and
his company increased to such an extent that an expedition was fitted out
by the British government, with the sole object of searching for them and
rendering any needed assistance. After reaching a high point in the
Arctic regions, and after earnest and toilsome search, spending a perilous
winter in the ice, this expedition returned, without tidings of the missing
explorers. A second and a third expedition for the same object was in
like manner dispatched, each returning after great effort, peril, and suffer-
ing, without success. Three years of disheartening, fruitless search had
not weakened the practical sympathy which, from the first, had been
evinced by the government and representatives of the commercial and
scientific interests of Great Britain, for the men whose lives had been
imperiled or lost in their service. A reward of ^"20,000 was offered by
Great Britain for their discovery and relief, in 1850, and three more expe-
ditions were dispatched early in that year.
To these vigorous measures of succor a new and powerful influence was
now added. Inspired by the fullness of her great grief, and with the
anguish of the thousand other bereaved ones concentrated in her own,
Lady Jane Franklin, wife of the brave leader of the lost expedition, made
fervent and eloquent appeals for aid to the peoples of the entire civilized
world. With touching earnestness and simplicity she stretched out her
hands to America ; and in a letter to the President of the United States,
she implored the Americans, " as a kindred people, to join, heart and hand,
in the enterprise of snatching the lost navigators from an icy grave." Nor
was this appeal in vain. With a generosity of impulse that waited on no
official formalities, Mr. Henry Grinnell, one of New York's great merchant
citizens, fitted out two of his own ships, and placed them at the disposal
of the United States government. These vessels, the Advance and the
Rescue, the latter under command of Captain Griffin of the United States
Navy, were accepted by Congress, manned by United States officers and
crews, and sailed from New York, under government instructions, on the
22d of May, 1850.
It was as senior surgeon to this expedition that the lamented Dr.
Elisha Kent Kane made his first Arctic voyage, and on his return, after
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
99
nearly two years in the polar zone, became the historian of its discoveries,
its perils, and its hardships; and also of its failure in accomplishing the
chief object of its mission.
During the same period, Lady Franklin had herself fitted out several in-
dependent search ex- ...... ; ""~---,.
peditions, and had in-
cited others. Among
these was another
government expedi-
tion to penetrate the
Arctic Circle from
the Pacific Ocean,
through Barrows
Strait, consisting of
two ships, the Enter-
prise, under Captain
Collinson, and the In-
vestigator, under Cap-
tain McClure. So
that during the year
1850 no less than
eight expeditions, in-
cluding fifteen ves-
sels, were dispatched
to the Arctic regions
in prosecution of the
search for the lost
navigators. After
wintering in the ice,
the spring of 185 1
was devoted to expe-
ditions by land, and
nearly seven hundred
miles of shore, hither-
to unknown, were in
vain explored. Failure of these well organized and efficiently conducted
measures, far from discouraging the energetic and devoted Lady Franklin,
served only to render her more urgent in her appeals, and more lavish of
her own effort and private fortune in the continued pursuit of what now
seemed but a forlorn hope.
{Portrait and Autograph engraved through the courtesy of Mrs. Hartstene."\
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
The year 1851 saw the failure of every expedition sent out during the
previous year, besides that of two well-equipped land expeditions on the
American coast. The conviction had now become fixed (among those
most capable of appreciating the situation) that the only remaining hope
of reaching the missing navigators lay in the possible attainment and
exploration of higher points in the Arctic Circle. It was therefore deter-
mined, by the Lords of the British Admiralty, to send a large and experi-
enced force, for a final effort, in the direction of Wellington Channel, with
Beech}* Island as the nearest objective point. This island was situated in
latitude 75 north by longitude 94 west, and was distinguished as the burial-
place of three of Sir John Franklin's men, whose graves were discovered
by one of the government expeditions in 1850. This locality was also
marked by evidences of the wintering of Sir John, although no record of
condition, or intended movements, was found.
A fleet, consisting of three sailing vessels, the Resolute, the Assist-
anet\ and the No7't1i Star, and two steam tenders, the Pioneer and
the Intrepid, was dispatched in April, 1852, under command of Sir
Edward Belcher, and proceeded to the scene of promised discovery.
Officered and manned by the flower of the British navy, this magnificent
force began once more the oft-fought battle for rescue of their hapless
countrymen. Whatever strength, courage, and indomitable will could do
they accomplished by sea, while the moving ice permitted progress; and
by land when the winter froze them fast. Thus these heroic men, types of
the many who had preceded them in their holy undertaking, struggled and
suffered through two dreary Arctic winters. Not entirely without recom-
pense ; for the beleaguered crew of the Barrows Strait Expedition, under the
brave McClure, who, after three winters in the ice, had pushed eastward
in the Investigator until progress was no longer possible, were discovered
and rescued from impending death by an exploring party from Sir Edward
Belcher's ship. Thus was the vexed problem of a northwest passage
solved. A continuous passage by sea had been demonstrated ; but the
ship through which the western arm was navigated remained firm in the ice,
and was abandoned at the point of demonstration. In the spring of 1854
the squadron attained a latitude of 74 north, longitude 101 west, where it
was again caught in the ice — frozen fast — each of the four vessels, the
Resolute, the Intrepid, the Pioneer, the Assistance. Sir Edward Belcher
soon realized that his company, worn with the long struggle, diseased,
and broken with hardships, was in no condition to brave another winter
in these regions. The store-ship North Star was fortunately one
hundred and eighty miles to the eastward and in loose ice near Beechy
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE 10f
Island. By a desperate effort this haven might be readied and escape
made possible. To stay was certain death to many, perhaps to all. The
abandonment of the ships was determined upon. An attempt would be
made to reach Beechy Island on foot and by sledge over a perilous stretch
of ice-floes one hundred and eighty miles in extent. The scene of final
departure from the ships is touchingly described by their commander in
an account published several years later :
" It was the full moon of the 25th of August, 1854, at six in the morn-
ing, when the crews were all assembled in traveling order on the floe — that
of the Resolute, the Assistance, the Pioneer, the Intrepid, and the Investi-
gator, the latter having been now five winters in the ice. The decks of the
vessels had been clean swept ; the hatchways were calked down ; the
colors, pendant and Jack, were so secured that they might be deemed
nailed to the mast, and the last tapping of the calker's mallet at my com-
panion hatch found an echo in many a heart as if we had encofTined some
cherished object. We passed silently over the side ; no cheers, indeed, no
sounds, were heard. Our hearts were too full. Turning our backs upon
our ships, we pursued our cheerless route over the floe, leaving behind us
our homes, and seeking for aught we knew merely a change to the depot
at Beechy Island." A laborious journey brought these heroes safely to
their destination. An embarkation of all the crews on board the North
Star was effected, and after an uneventful voyage they arrived safely in
England in September, 1854.
To those familiar with the gigantic forces at play in the breaking up of
the Arctic ice-floe, speedy and utter destruction of the deserted vessels
seemed only the question of a few brief months. Enwrapped in shrouds of
snow and ice, they awaited the inevitable crush — and a burial. One, how-
ever, the stanch, teak-ribbed old Resolute, was marked for a higher destiny.
Built without regard to cost, for the service of humanity, twice sailed in
the spirit of generous and self-sacrificing rivalry for rescue of many lives —
she was appointed to escape from her environment, and to play a dis-
tinguished part in the comity of nations.
The return of the survivors of this great expedition, upon which so
many hopes had centered, fell like a pall over the prospects of rescue for
Sir John Franklin and his men. One strong heart alone resisted the seem-
ingly inevitable conclusion to which it pointed, like the finger of Fate.
This was the undaunted wife of Sir John. She omitted no effort, still
devoting her energies and her now shattered fortune to the continued pros-
ecution of the search. Meanwhile, as time passed, the abandoned ships were
remembered only as landmarks among the many hopes, which each sue-
102 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
ceeding year gave place to newer hope with fainter promise of fulfillment ;
when in September, 1855, during the cruise of the American whaleship
George Hairy in latitude 67 north, surrounded by fields of ice, a vessel was
one morning descried in the distance, and upon nearer approach it was
found firmly imbedded in an immense ice-floe and apparently deserted.
A toilsome journey of several miles over the uneven surface of the floe
confirmed this supposition, and proved the vessel to be the Arctic ship
Resolute of Sir Edward Belcher's expedition, left eighteen months before,
more than a thousand miles distant from where she was now discovered,
and to which she had been safely navigated by the unaided forces of nature.
The vessel was still stanch and sound, and well filled with valuable stores.
Everything on board gave evidence of sudden and utter abandonment.
Across the cabin table lay a couple of swords and a commander's epau-
lets, as if flung down at the moment of departure ; maps, logs, books,
and musical instruments left as if but for an hour. All on board told the
same story of rapid flight, without the means of carrying away cherished
mementos or badges of distinction. Although deeply imbedded in the
immense mass of ice which had accumulated around and upon it, it was
determined by the captain of the whaler to abandon his fishing, and extri-
cate and bear the Resolute home as a prize. This, after weeks of perilous
labor, was accomplished, and Captain Buddington, of the George Henry,
sailed his treasure trove into the harbor of New London in March, 1855.
The government of Great Britain was at once informed of the dis-
covery of the Resolute, and the circumstances attendant upon her release ;
whereupon an official surrender of all claims upon her was promptly and
generously accorded to her salvors.
The second American expedition in search of Sir John Franklin, fitted
out by Mr. Henry Grinnell, of New York, and Mr. Peabody, an American
resident of London, in command of Doctor Kane, had now been absent
more than two years. A growing anxiety was felt lest Kane also should
have met the fate of those he sailed to rescue. An expedition, composed
of the bark Release, and the steam-brig Arctic, under the direction of
Commander Henry J. Hartstene, of the United States Navy, was dis-
patched May 26, 1855, to their discovery and rescue.
This expedition made a brilliant passage into the Polar Seas, reach-
ing nearly 80 degrees north latitude, and finally met with traces of the
missing men. It was found that after two winters of great hardships the
intrepid Kane had been forced to abandon his vessels and had made his
way over the ice towards the Danish settlement at Upernavik. This
place he reached with the shattered remnant of his company, exhausted
PRESENTATION OE THE ARCTIC SUM' RESOLUTE
103
104 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
and starving. Captain Hartstene overtook them at Upernavik, and
brought them all safely to New York, arriving October n, 1855, having
being absent less than five months, and making the first completely suc-
cessful Arctic voyage on record.
The relations between Great Britain and the United States at this
period were not altogether satisfactory. The official course of Sir Henry
Crampton, the last resident minister to the United States from the Court
of St. James, had given much dissatisfaction; so much, indeed, that
diplomatic relations were suspended, and his recall had been effected, in
pursuance of a direct request of the United States government to that
effect. In connection with this trouble and the somewhat summary pro-
ceedings in regard to it, the Hotspurs of politics and diplomacy had,
through the public journals, created much bitterness of feeling in both
countries, and in extreme circles war was considered not improbable.
The return of the Resolute, followed quickly by that of the Arctic expedi-
tion under Commander Hartstene — bringing Doctor Kane and his men,
up to this time mourned by many as lost — caused a diversion in public
sentiment. The latent forces of kinship and kindred relations, which had
sprung into action at the first call for aid in prosecuting measures for the
rescue of Sir John Franklin and his lost company, now demonstrated their
abiding influence by renewed manifestations of sympathy with the British
nation in the fate of their lost explorer. This sentiment found a definite
expression, during the following session of Congress, when it was determined
to purchase of her salvors, and return to her British Majesty's government
the ship Resolute, as a gift from the American people. This proceeding and
the motives which prompted it, will be best appreciated by citation of the
Act of Congress, passed August 28, 1856, thus: "Whereas it has become
known to Congress that the ship Resolute, late of the navy of her Majesty
the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on service in
the Arctic seas in search of Sir John Franklin and the survivors of the ex-
pedition under his command, was rescued and recovered by the officers and
crew of the American whaleship, George Henry, after the Resolute had been
necessarily abandoned in the ice by her officers and crew, and after drift-
ing more than one thousand miles from the place where so abandoned ;
and that the said ship Resolute, having been brought to the United States
by the salvors at great risk and peril, had been generously relinquished to
them by Her Majesty's government. Now in token of the deep interest
felt in the United States for the service in which Her Majesty's said ship
was engaged when thus necessarily abandoned : and the sense entertained
by Congress of the act of Her Majesty's government in surrendering said
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE 105
ship to her salvors : Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That
the President of the United States be and is hereby requested to cause
the said ship Resolute — with all her armament and equipment and the
property on board, when she arrived in the United States, and which have-
been preserved in good condition — to be purchased of her present owners,
and that he send the said ship with everything fully repaired and equipped
at one of the navy yards of the United States, back to England, under the
control of the Secretary of the Navy ; with a request to Her Majesty's
•I '.
wr
j.1'^
THE ARCTIC DISCOVERY SHIP Resolute AFTER SHE WAS REPAIRED.
[From an engraz'ing in possession of Dr. Fessenden N. Otis.']
government, that the United States may be allowed to restore the said
ship Resolute to Her Majesty's service; and for the purchase of said ship
and her appurtenances the sum of forty thousand dollars, or so much thereof
as may be required, is hereby appropriated, to be paid out of any money
in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. Approved August 28, 1856."
In pursuance of the foregoing action of Congress, the vessel was pur-
chased and taken to the navy yard in Brooklyn, Long Island, where she
was thoroughly overhauled, repaired, and refitted, in a style fully equal to
her original equipment. The rigging, which had been exposed for so long
a time to the action of the elements, was much dilapidated, and required
almost entire renewal ; but below decks, aside from a great accumulation
106 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
of bilge and mold, the vessel remained unaltered. A large proportion of
her stores, being put up in air-tight vessels, were still fit for use. Also
her armon*, the cabin furniture, wardrobes of officers, and several musical
instruments were found in good condition. Great care was taken to pre-
serve and replace even-thing found in and about the vessel, and to put her
in a condition as nearly as possible the same as that in which she might be
supposed to have been on the date of her abandonment. The vessel was
then placed in charge of Commander Henry J. Hartstene, of the United
States Navy, with the following instructions: "Sir: The Department has
placed you in command of the Resolute, with a view to her restoration to
the British government, in pursuance to a joint resolution of Congress,
approved August 28, 1856. You will, as soon as she is in all respects ready
for sea, proceed to England. Entering the port of Portsmouth, leaving
her in charge of the officers under your command, you will proceed imme-
diately to London, in order to advise with the American Minister, Mr.
George M. Dallas, to whom you will deliver the inclosed dispatches from
the Department of State. Accompanying these dispatches you will re-
ceive an open communication from this Department for Sir Charles Wood,
First Lord of the Admiralty, who will, I presume, advise you as to the
proper disposition of the ship, in the event of Her Majesty's government
accepting her. You will consult freely with Mr. Dallas, and will find it
convenient to be guided in your movements by one so peculiarly com-
petent as he is. When you have performed the duty assigned to you,
you will make arrangements for the return of the officers and men, exer-
cising all prudence and economy. Previous dispatches have instructed
you as to the mode of procuring funds to effect your purposes.
" I am, yours respectfully,
" J. C. Dobbin,
"Secretary United States Navy."
Unlimited letters on the house of Baring Brothers, London, had been
previously received by Commander Hartstene from the Department.
The selection of Commander Hartstene had been made, not only in
view of his established reputation as an able and judicious officer, but be-
cause of the great popular esteem in which he was then held as the restorer,
to an anxious people, of the missing Franklin Search Expedition, under
the command of Dr. Kane; and he would thus, presumably, be most ac-
ceptable to the people of Great Britain.
But the man thus honored hesitated to accept the flattering appoint-
ment. Generous and sympathetic in his nature, accomplished in all that
pertained to his profession, prompt and fearless in the performance of
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE 1 07
every known duty ; and with a chivalric sense of the claims of his country's
flag — yet he shrank from the responsibility of the position. This, he was
quick to see, was no less than that of Ambassador Extraordinary to the
British nation ; and with a mission of high significance. He saw also that
if it was accepted in the spirit in which it had been conceived, it would
carry with it the necessity of public ceremonies and diplomatic correspond-
ence involving duties but little in harmony with his reserved and simple
inclinations and habits. His reply to the Secretary was characteristic of the
man. He said, " I can neither dance, speak, nor sing, and so am surely not
the officer for such a service." But Mr. Dobbin, his personal friend, thought
otherwise, and the appointment was insisted on, with the privilege, how-
ever, of a secretary to lighten the literary and clerical labors connected
with his mission.
Lieutenants Clark H. Wells, Edward Stone, and Hunter Davidson, were
then ordered to report for duty on board the Resolute ; also, passed
Assistant Surgeon Robert H. Maccoun. Dr. Fessenden N. Otis, at the
time surgeon in the United States Mail Steamship service, was, with the
concurrence of the Secretary of the Navy, appointed by Captain Hart-
stene acting secretary to the expedition. Thirty picked American sea-
men were detailed for duty on board the Resolute. On the eleventh day
of November, 1856, being in all respects ready for sea, the Resolute was
formally turned over to Commander Hartstene, by the commander of the
Navy Yard, and on the 13th instant conveyed by the steam-tug Achilles
as far as Sandy Hook. The Resolute then sailed quietly out on her voy-
age across the Atlantic.
The conventional Arctic discovery ship, while admirably calculated to
resist the crushing influences of an ice-pack, is but an indifferent sailer.
But a succession of westerly gales drove the vessel with unexampled speed
until after thirty days they culminated in a furious tornado, at the entrance
of the English Channel. Vivid flashes of lightning, followed by heavy peals
of thunder, most rare at this season, heralded the approach of the Resolute
to the British shores. Uncertainty as to the exact position of the vessel,
from inability to obtain an observation for several days prior to this, gave rise
to some anxiety for her safety. On the 10th of December, at two o'clock
in the morning, the sky cleared. St. Agnes' light was seen in the dis-
tance. The wind had died away, still a terrific sea was tossing the helpless
vessel to and fro ; and, besides, it was soon found that an insidious current
was setting the ship upon the Scilly rocks, which jut up here and there
sheer an hundred feet or more from the deep waters along this coast. The
sound of breakers, at first faint and ominous, gradually increased until the
I08 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
doom of the ship and crew seemed certain. Commander Hartstene now
prepared to battle for the last desperate effort, which was to ascend and
be lashed to the top-mast cross-trees, and endeavor from thence to direct
the course of the ship into some one of the narrow passages between the
rocks, which were said sometimes to afford refuge for small fishing-vessels
in similar extremity. But at the moment when destruction seemed inevi-
table a breeze sprung up from the land, faint at first, but distinctly recog-
nized by officers and crew, all alert, and eagerly straining to catch its cool
breath upon the bared forehead or upstretched wetted finger. Coquetting
with their fears, it filled the sails and then died away, again returning,
until at last the steadied ship gave answer to her helm and swung slowly
away from the dangerous land.
Another day and another peril through a gale burst again upon this
much vexed vessel just off Portland point, in the chops of the Channel.
This storm, too, culminated in a most dangerous proximity to a rock-bound
lee shore, and a repetition, in less degree, of the anxieties of the previous
night.
Twice rescued from impending destruction by ways that seemed like
special acts of Providence, the Resolute, now flying the British and Ameri-
can ensigns side by side at her peak, bore up into Portsmouth Harbor in
the midst of a sudden squall of wind and rain. A single heavy peal of
thunder took the place of the national salute which was under amiable dis-
cussion by the Lords of the Admiralty when the Resolute dropped her
anchor at Spithead.
Notwithstanding the fury of the storm, the vessel was at once boarded
by Captain Peale, of Her Britannic Majesty's frigate Shannon, with a cor-
dial welcome and offer of every possible service.
A steam yacht from Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour, commanding
officer of the naval station at Portsmouth, brought letters of congratu-
lation and tenders of service from Sir Charles Wood, First Lord of the
Admiralty. The Chevalier Pappallardo, American vice-consul at Ports-
mouth, came also in the yacht, bearing a hearty welcome from the muni-
cipal authorities of Portsmouth, and an invitation from the corporation to
Commander Hartstene and the officers of the Resolute, to partake of a
municipal banquet on Thursday, or the first convenient day.
Captain Sir Thomas Maitland, who, during the temporary absence of
Admiral Sir George Seymour, had become commanding officer of the
station, now called with official and personal assurances of welcome and
proffers of every possible service, by express instructions from the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty, and with the information that a bounti-
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
I 09
ful supply of every sort of fresh provision had been ordered on board the
Resolute; that a hotel had been opened at Southsea, by order of Her
Majesty the Queen, for the entertainment of the commander and officers
[From a miniatzire Portrait in possession 0/ Dr. Otis
of the Resolute, during their stay in England. Also a carte blanche on the
railroads to London. All which attentions were courteously acknowl-
edged and responded to by Commander Hartstene. On the succeeding
day, as the Resolute had reached her final anchorage at Portsmouth, she
110 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
was greeted by cheers upon cheers from crowds of assembled citizens ; and
a royal salute of twenty-one guns was fired from the flag-ship Victory.
This salute was followed by a similar one from the fortifications of Ports-
mouth, and still a third, of twenty-one guns, from Her Majesty's frigate the
Shannon, anchored at Spithead. The question of etiquette regarding the
salute which should be given to the Resolute had been settled by her Maj-
esty the Queen, who ordered that the Resolute be received with all the
honors accorded to crowned heads ; thus relieving the authorities from a
necessity of infringing upon long-established precedents, and at the same
time gracefully acknowledging the sovereignty represented in the mission
of the Resolute.
After the necessary official visits in Portsmouth, Commander Hart-
stene with his secretary proceeded at once to London, and after consul-
tation with the then American minister, Mr. Dallas, presented the open
dispatch (previously mentioned) to Sir Charles Wood, First Lord of the
Admiralty, acquainting him officially with the mission of Commander Hart-
stene, closing as follows : " In pursuance of the resolution of Congress, the
President requests Her Majesty's government to allow him to restore the
ship Resolute to Her Majesty's service. Commander Hartstene is ordered
to deliver the vessel, at any port, and to any officers, to be designated at
the pleasure of Her Majesty's government. With assurances of high re-
spect, S. C. Dobbin, Secretary of the United States Navy." It was sug-
gested in reply by Sir Charles Wood that, as Her Majesty the Queen had
expressed an intention to visit the Resolute in person, any definite arrange-
ment looking towards a formal acceptance of that vessel should be de-
ferred until Her Majesty's wishes had been consulted in the matter. Let-
ters were received from various clubs, notably the Athenaeum, the United
Service, the Army and Navy, and Travelers, tendering honorary member-
ships to Commander Hartstene and the officers of the Resolute during
their stay in England. An invitation to visit Lady Franklin and meet
several distinguished geographers and Arctic explorers was accepted. On
this occasion, the question of another Arctic search expedition was dis-
cussed, in its connection with the unlooked-for return of the Resolute.
Lady Franklin claimed with much warmth, that the restoration of this ves-
sel, fully equipped for another Arctic voyage, and fit for nothing else, was
a special providence, appealing like a command for further effort. The
still unburied sorrow could be seen in her tearful, rapt attention to the
views of Commander Hartstene, in regard to it. And, when he expressed
his opinion that such an effort seemed to him not only full of promise, but
was a duty which England still owed to her honor to prosecute — with
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE I I I
painful earnestness she besought his influence with Her Majesty the
Queen, for one more trial to unravel the mystery hanging over the fate of
her lost husband. The correctness of this view, as is now well known,
found its confirmation in the final discovery of Sir John Franklin's fate by
the gallant Captain McClintock in 1859, little more than two years later,
during his voyage in Lady Franklin's own unaided yacht, the Fox. Sir
Roderick Murchison, President of the Royal Geographical Society (and a
firm supporter of Lady Franklin's views), called during the visit with
offers of every service at his command, and requested that a day should be
named when Commander Hartstene would accept a public banquet from
the Royal Geographical Club. At the close of the interview Captain
Hartstene accepted an earnest invitation from Lady Franklin for himself
and all his officers to dine with her at Brighton on Christmas Day.
On Monday, the 15th, the following notice was received by Comman-
der Hartstene from the Lords of the Admiralty, dated, " Admiralty House,
Dec. 15th: Sir, Her Majesty has signified her most gracious intention to
visit the Resolute, at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, on Tuesday, the 16th
inst., in recognition of the munificence of the government of the United
States in restoring that vessel to Her Majesty's service, and in compliment
to the officers and crew. My Lords trust that it will be convenient for
you to proceed with the Resolute to Cowes for the purpose. Should it
meet with your views, immediate orders will be sent with your concurrence
to the senior officer at Portsmouth, that the Resolute should be towed to
her destined anchorage." The subjoined message, also, was received
shortly afterdated, " Osborne House, Dec. 15th, 1856. To Capt. Hart-
stene. The Master of the Household has received the command of
her Majesty the Queen to invite Captain Hartstene to dine and
sleep at Osborne, to-morrow, December 16th. The dinner hour is eight
o'clock."
Returning to Portsmouth, Captain Hartstene, in conjunction with the
naval authorities, effected an immediate removal of the Resolute to
Cowes, and initiated the necessary preparations for the reception of Her
Majesty on the following day. Invitations were telegraphed to the
American minister, Mr. Dallas, at London, to Mr. Crooky, the American
consul-general, and to the American vice-consuls of Great Britain, and also
to Mr. Cornelius Grinnell, son of the honored projector of the American
Arctic Expedition, to be present at the ceremony of delivering the Reso-
lute to Her Majesty the Queen. This Captain Hartstene had determined
upon effecting on the occasion of the proposed reception of Her Majesty
on board that vessel. Preparations were also made by the American
112 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
officers on board the Resolute for a generous banquet to follow the more
important proceedings. Her Majesty's frigate Retribution was dispatched
to Cowes for firing the necessary salutes. Also several gun-boats, together
with Her Majesty's yachts Fairy and Elfin.
On Tuesday, the 16th, the day appointed for Her Majesty's visit,
Admiral Sir George Seymour, K. C B., and commander-in-chief of the
naval forces at Portsmouth, with his suite, arrived at Cowes in his yacht,
the Fire Queen, to supervise and complete the necessary preparations for
the occasion. All things having been arranged in a satisfactory manner,
the sailors, in neat attire, were stationed on the forward bulwarks of the
Resolute. The royal standard was at the main, ready to be unfurled the
moment Her Majesty passed the gangway. On the fore and mizzen
masts the English colors were flying, while at the peak the Stars and
Stripes waved in peaceful companionship with the Cross of St. George.
The Queen, accompanied by her royal consort, Prince Albert, the
Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, left Osborne
House at about ten o'clock in the morning. Her Majesty was attended
by the Duchess of Athol, Lady of the Bedchamber, and the Hon. Miss
Cathcart. one of her maids of honor. In her suite were Sir James Clark,
M.D., Physician in Ordinary to the Queen; Major-General Bouverie, and
other distinguished gentlemen of the royal household. These were soon
joined by Sir George Seymour, and several naval officers of rank. On
arrival at the Resolute they were greeted by three hearty cheers.
Commander Hartstene received the royal party at the gangway, while
the invited guests were ranged on the opposite side of the vessel. The
Queen, in advance of his Royal Highness Prince Albert, and the rest of
the royal family, passed quickly over a temporary bridge to the deck of
the vessel. All heads were now uncovered. Courteously signifying her
recognition of Commander Hartstene, he then advanced, with unaffected
ease, and yet with a profoundly respectful manner, bowing, thus addressed
the Queen :
u Will your Majesty permit me to welcome you on board the Resolute,
and, in accordance with the wishes of my countrymen, and in obedience
to my instructions from the President of the United States, to restore her
to your Majesty, not only as a mark of friendly feeling to your Majesty's
government, but as a token of love, admiration, and respect for your Maj-
esty's person."
To which the Queen replied, " I thank you."
Commander Hartstene then presented his officers to the Queen, and aft-
erward his invited guests, which ceremony concluded, with Her Majesty's
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE I 1 3
permission, he escorted her to the after part of the vessel, the ladies of her
suite and the royal family following under the care of the officers of the
Resolute. From thence the royal party passed down the narrow gangway
into the commander's cabin. Here, in the snug quarters which had been
occupied by Captain Kellett during two Arctic winters (and more recently
had afforded accommodation to Commander Hartstene and his secretary
during their boisterous voyage across the Atlantic), many articles of inter-
est were displayed and commented upon. Commander Hartstene then
spread out upon the cabin table a chart of the Arctic regions, and pointed
out the precise locality where the Resolute had been abandoned, and also
the track of her wanderings in the ice-floe up to the point where she was
ultimately discovered by Captain Buddington. Commander Hartstene
pointed out his own course during his voyage in search of Dr. Kane,
and, in response to Her Majesty's request, gave information in regard to
various points in the course of previous expeditions, as well as his own
views in regard to the region where a further search would be most prom-
ising of success. After an hour thus spent, the Queen, expressing much
satisfaction with her visit, left for Osborne House amid the cheers of the
crew and the acclamation of the gathered crowd. The customary salutes were
fired from the shipping, and the usual marks of loyalty were exhibited by
the surrounding naval forces during the Queen's visit. After Her Majesty's
departure a generous luncheon was served on board, in honor of their distin-
guished guests, during which due honors were paid to the Queen, the Presi-
dent of the United States, etc., subsequently to which the ship was thrown
open to the English people, who thronged the vessel with apparent interest
and enjoyment for the remainder of the day. On the invitation of the
Master of the Queen's Household, the officers of the Resolute visited
Osborne, and Commander Hartstene left the ship at half-past seven o'clock
in the evening to dine with her Majesty and sleep at the Palace in accord-
ance with the invitation previously cited.
Among the various communications received during this day and duly
acknowledged, was a letter from the Master of the Queen's privy purse, en-
closing a check for £100, to be distributed by the Queen's command,
among the crew of the Resolute.
At ten o'clock on the following morning, December 17, Commander
Hartstene's secretary and friend met him on his return from Osborne
House, and received a full account of all matters of interest connected with
the distinguished hospitality of which he had been the recipient. His
reception and treatment had been such as is given to royalty alone.
After the dinner, the honor of a personal conversation with the Queen had
Vol. XVIII.— No. 2-8
114 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
been accorded to him, free from court etiquette, and with a degree of con-
sideration which gave evidence of Her Majesty's high appreciation of the
friendly act of the United States government and of her satisfaction with
its representative.
At noon the Resolute was towed back to her former position in Ports-
mouth Harbor. As she neared her anchorage, a salute of twenty-one guns
was fired from the fortifications, and an immense concourse of people,
gathered on the shore, welcomed her return with prolonged and enthusi-
astic cheers. A letter was this day received from Admiral Sir George
Seymour, conveying to Commander Hartstene an invitation from Lord
Palmerston (then Prime Minister of England), to dine and spend a night
at Broadlands in company with the Admiral. Another from the mayor of
Liverpool, tending a public dinner to Commander Hartstene and the officers
of the Resolute, with many expressions of friendly feeling. Still another,
from the American Chamber of Commerce of Liverpool, enclosing the
following resolution : " That, highly appreciating the kindly feeling
evinced by the American government, in restoring the ship Resolute to the
British nation, said Chamber do invite Commander Hartstene and the
officers in charge of such vessel, to a public dinner," etc., etc. And yet
another from Colonel Eyre and the officers of the Royal Artillery and
Royal Engineers, of a similar purport, for a convenient day. Various in-
vitations from clubs and other associations were also received during this
and the following days, but it was decided by Commander Hartstene, in
consequence of his desire to return to the United States at the earliest
possible period, to decline all public festivities, except the municipal ban-
quet tendered by the City of Portsmouth. This invitation was accepted
for the 23d instant. Invitations to partake of the hospitalities of private
individuals were numerous and cordial. Among them was one from Miss
Burdett Coutts, of the celebrated banking house of Coutts & Company,
tendering the use of her box at the Drury Lane Theater, and a luncheon
at her banking-house. In short, nothing could exceed the generous hos-
pitality, cordiality and attention, public and private, of which Commander
Hartstene and the officers of the Resolute were the recipients, and which
continued unabated during their entire stay in Her Majesty's dominions.
Preparation for their return to the United States, however, were in active
progress.
On the 19th instant the following dispatch was received from the Amer-
ican Minister, Mr. Dallas: " To Commander Hartstene, etc., U. S. N. My
dear Sir : I send a letter transmitted to me for you. Sir Charles Wood
has written me a long note and I have answered it, i acquiescing ' in his
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE 11$
offer to return you to the United States in a British steamer. As he will
doubtless address you also it may be well and prudent in you to say that,
consistently with your orders, it may not be inconvenient that the steamer
should start in the course of a week. Very respectfully, G. M. Dallas."
The accompanying letter read as follows. " Admiralty, London, Dec.
18th, 1856. To Commander Hartstene, etc., U. S. N. Dear Sir: I have
the honor of acknowledging the receipt of your letter informing me of the
Resolute being in Portsmouth Harbor. I have also received a letter from
the Secretary of the Navy of the United States, communicating to me the
resolution of Congress in pursuance of which the government of the
United States has so liberally presented that ship to Her Majesty and sent
her over to this country under your command. I shall have the honor of
addressing the Secretary of the Navy in acknowledgment of his letter.
You are good enough to say that you are ready to deliver the Resolute in
any manner which may be deemed advisable. I have only to say that or-
ders will be given to Admiral Sir George Seymour, Commander-in-Chief at
Portsmouth, to make such arrangements for receiving her as may be most
convenient to yourself, your officers, and your crew. It will probably ren-
der the arrangements more suitable to your wishes if you would have the
goodness to communicate with him on the subject. I have also to pro-
pose to you that you should return to the United States in one of Her
Majesty's ships, which I shall be ready to order to proceed on this service,
whenever it suits you to leave this country, if you accept my offer. I am
anxious to show, by every means in my power, the sense which we enter-
tain of the generous conduct of your government, and to offer every cour-
tesy to yourself, your officers and crew. I am anxious also that we should
endeavor to promote the good and friendly feeling between the United
States and this country, to which, on all occasions, the naval officers of
both countries have so much contributed. The frigate in which I propose
to convey you to any part of the United States which you propose, is.
ready for sea, and would only require filling up with coals, but will, of
course, wait for any time you may wish to spend in this country. I have
the honor to be, dear sir, your obedient and faithful servant, Charles
Wood." This generous offer of a return to the United States in a govern-
ment vessel was accepted with reluctance by Commander Hartstene, as
Congress was not in session, and the responsibility of the reception of the
ship and her officers on arrival in America would fall upon the city author-
ities of New York or upon its citizens, without the opportunity of consul-
tation concerning it ; thus making possible an awkward termination of a
matter which had already culminated most auspiciously, in the reception
II 6 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
oi the ship by Her Majesty the Queen of England. While, therefore, ac-
quiescing at the moment, the Commander expressed the hope that this
proposition might ultimately be declined. The invitation to visit the
Prime Minister had been accepted for December 22d, on which date, Com-
mander Hartstene, accompanied by Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour, left
Portsmouth for Broadlands. Soon after their departure a dispatch was
received from the Ship Owners' Association of Liverpool, containing no-
tice of the intended visit of a committee of that association, with the ob-
ject of presenting a congratulatory address to Commander Hartstene and
the officers of the Resolute, at noon on the following day.
The throng of visitors on board the Resolute continued with undimin-
ished enthusiasm, and a deluge of letters of congratulation, invitations,
etc., was brought by every mail. An artist was on board during the day,
making the necessary sketches of material for a large historic picture of
the presentation ceremony, which had been ordered by Her Majesty the
Queen. Instantaneous photographs had been taken at the time of the
reception with the same object in view. This picture, which was painted
by a distinguished London artist, was afterwards reproduced in a large
steel engraving published by Messrs. Colnaghi and Company of London.
The original now hangs in the gallery of the Sydenham Palace.*
On the 23d instant, at 12 o'clock, Commander Hartstene arrived from
Broadlands, and reached the deck of the Resolute just as the deputation
from the Liverpool Ship Owners' Association was announced. After a
cordial reception by Commander Hartstene, Mr. Graves, chairman of the
Association, delivered an eloquent address, in which the gift of the Res-
olute to the British nation was alluded to with much feeling ; looking
upon the preservation of this vessel as a providential act, to draw into
closer union the friendly relations of both countries ; concluding with
graceful acknowledgments, congratulations, and kindly wishes. The
address, which was elaborately engrossed upon parchment, was then deliv-
ered to Commander Hartstene. After acknowledging the honor thus con-
ferred by the Ship Owners' Association, Commander Hartstene, in respond-
ing, expressed his sense of the distinction conferred upon himself and the
officers of the Resolute by the Liverpool Ship Owners' Association. He
felt warranted in saying that the friendly feelings expressed towards the
United States government would be highly appreciated and fully recipro-
cated by his government and his countrymen. Closing with renewed
thanks, Commander Hartstene then invited the deputation to a bountiful
* A copy of this magnificent painting will be seen in the frontispiece to this number of the
Magazine.
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE I 17
luncheon, after which the distinguished guests departed, with many
expressions of satisfaction.
During his visit to Broadlands Commander Hartstene took advantage
of a suitable opportunity to discuss with Lord Palmerston and Admiral
Seymour the propriety of declining the proposed return of the officers and
crew of the Resolute to the United States by a government vessel. This
resulted in a decision favorable to Commander Hartstene's views. Imme-
diately on his return therefrom he addressed a note to the American min-
ister, and one also to Sir Charles Wood, requesting a reconsideration of
the matter, looking toward an immediate official delivery of the Resolute,
and a return to the United States in one of the United States mail steam-
ers. To both these letters answers were received by return post, fully
approving the proposed change in the mode of returning Commander
Hartstene and the officers and crew of the Resolute to the United States;
Sir Charles Wood expressing much regret, however, that this deprived him
of an opportunity of showing how much the generous act of the United
States was appreciated by the British government. The municipal ban-
quet of the City of Portsmouth to Commander Hartstene and the officers
of the Resolute took place at 6 o'clock this evening, the Lord Mayor pre-
siding. Distinguished guests and members of the city corporation were
present to the number of about seventy. The cloth was removed at eight
o'clock. The toast of " the Queen " was followed by that of l< the Presi-
dent of the United States." " Prince Albert," " the Prince of Wales," and
" the Royal Family " were given in succession. The mayor then followed
in a speech full of good feeling and appreciation of the act of the United
States government in presenting the Resolute to the British nation, and also
highly complimentary to the commander and officers of that vessel. He
proposed the toast of the evening, " Commander Hartstene and the offi-
cers of the Resolute, with three times three." This toast, which was
received with thunders of applause, was responded to by Commander
Hartstene in an appropriate speech. Various toasts were then proposed
and speeches made until a late hour. The concluding sentiment was
given, as follows: " May the natural link between the United States and
Great Britain never be severed," which was received and acknowledged
by repeated cheers. A very good idea of the complete fusion of interests
which prevailed on this occasion may be gained through an incident which
occurred during the dinner. A messenger delivered to Commander Hart-
stene a card, upon reading which, he rose, and bowing to a portly alder-
man at the foot of the table, drank a glass of wine with him in silence.
The writer's curiosity was aroused by this mysterious proceeding, and
Il8 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
in answer to an inquiry in regard to it, he was presented with the card,
which, written in pencil, bore the following legend : "Alderman drinks
with Commodore Hartstene to the memory of the men who threw the tea
overboard at Boston."
On the 24th a large box of cake was received from Lady Franklin, with
a '• Merry Christmas for the crew of the Resolute." The engagement to
spend Christmas day with Lady Franklin was reluctantly, and out of
necessity relinquished on account of unexpected changes in the railway
communications with Brighton. On the following day keepsakes taken
from Lady Franklin's Christmas tree for Commander Hartstene and the
officers of the Resolute, were received ; also presents for the commander's
absent wife and daughter. Lady Franklin visited the Resolute on the 26th
instant, with her niece Miss Cracroft, to whom also a melancholy interest
attached as the fiancee of Captain Crozier, second in command of the lost
Franklin expedition. They were accompanied by Sir Roderick Murchi-
son. Both ladies seemed profoundly affected by this, their first visit to an
Arctic vessel, and spent over an hour in examining the various matters of
interest on board. At Lady Franklin's urgent solicitation, Commander
Hartstene accompanied them to Brighton. On the 27th instant the follow-
ing dispatch was received from Admiral Sir George Seymour, dated " Flag
Ship Victory, December 27th. Sir : I have the honor to acquaint you
that I have received directions from the Lords Commissioners of the Ad-
miralty, to receive the Resolute whenever you may think fit to deliver her
over ; I have therefore sent Captain Seymour of the Victory, to make such
arrangements as will suit your inclination and convenience. I have the
honor to be, your most obedient servant, G. H. Seymour, Vice Admiral
and Commander-in-chief." The following answer was at once returned :
" To Vice-Admiral Sir George Seymour, Commander-in-chief of the naval
forces at Portsmouth. Sir: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt
of your communication of this day's date, informing me that you had
received instructions from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to
receive the Resolute whenever she is ready to be delivered by us. I have
also had the honor of a call from Captain Seymour of the Victory, with
whom I have arranged that, with your approval, we will remain as we are,
until Tuesday the 30th inst., so as to be certain that the steamer in which
we propose returning to the United States shall have arrived at South-
ampton. I have proposed, that as the ship has already been delivered by
me to the Queen, the hauling down of the American ensign should be
done as quickly as possible. With many thanks, and under much obli-
gation to you personally for the kind attentions we have constantly re-
PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE 119
ceived from yourself and your officers during our stay in England, I have
the honor to be, sir, your obedient servant, Henry J. Hartstene." The
following answer was received. " Flag Ship Victory, Portsmouth Harbor,
Dec. 29th. -To Commander Hartstene, U. S. Navy. Sir: The arrangement
which you have made with Captain Seymour has been approved by the
Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, and that officer will receive charge
of the Resolute at such hour to-morrow as you shall transfer the officers
and seamen, with whom you have brought that ship to England, to the
steam vessel which will convey them to Southampton. As you justly
remark, the ship has been already delivered by you to our Sovereign ;
any succeeding ceremony is thereby rendered unnecessary. Permit me,
however, to say that you and the officers who have accompanied you to
England, have carried out the objects of your government in a manner
which has added great personal regard for yourselves, to the satisfaction
which a national act of courtesy and good-will from the United States
has produced very generally in this Country. And, wishing you, and those
who accompanied you, a favorable voyage, I have the honor to be, sir,
your very obedient servant, G. H. Seymour, Vice-Admiral and Com-
mander-in-chief."
A generous letter from Messrs. Inman & Company had been received,
tendering to the commander and officers of the Resolute passage to the
United States in one of their steamers, which, on account of arrangements
previously perfected, was gratefully declined.
On the 30th day of December, 1856, at noon, Captain Seymour of the
flag-ship Victory, accompanied by the first and second masters of the Victory
and a corporal's guard of marines, were received on board the Resolute, by
Commander Hartstene, who, with his officers and crew, were assembled on
her quarter-deck. The British and American ensigns had floated together
at her peak, since the arrival of the vessel in port.
As the dockyard clock struck one, the Flag Ship Victory hoisted the
4' Star Spangled Banner," and fired a royal salute of twenty-one guns,
during which ceremony the American ensign on board the Resolute was
hauled down amid the cheers of the crew and the crowds on the adjacent
shores, leaving the " Cross of St. George " flying alone.
Commander Hartstene, then approaching Captain Seymour, addressed
him as follows :
"Sir: The closing act of my most pleasing and important mission has
now to be performed. In the first place, permit me to express the hope,
that long after every timber in her sturdy frame shall have decayed, the
remembrance of the old Resolute will be cherished by the people of our
respective nations. And now, sir, with a pride and pleasure wholly at
120 PRESENTATION OF THE ARCTIC SHIP RESOLUTE
variance with our professional ideas, I strike my flag and to you give up
the ship."
This having been briefl}- and appropriately acknowledged by Captain
Seymour, Commander Hartstene, with his officers and crew, repaired on
board the Admiralty tender which was lying alongside, and left for South-
ampton on their homeward journey, amid the hearty and prolonged accla-
mations of a dense multitude that crowded the neighboring wharves.
This was in the year 1856, over a quarter of a century ago. The in-
fluence oi such national courtesies as have been recorded in the foregoing
narrative, upon the policy of the great nations thus brought into generous
and friendly contact, cannot well be over-estimated. That they were instru-
mental in settling grave points of difference, which at that time existed in
the diplomatic relations between the two countries, cannot be denied.
That the generous act of the United States is still green in the memory of
the British nation, is attested by the action of the Lords of the British
Admiralty, within a recent date, who, in ordering the breaking up of the
old ship Resolute, resolved and commanded that a set of elaborate and
massive library furniture be constructed out of the timbers of the old
Arctic ship Resolute, and presented to the President of the United States,
in recognition of the return to the British government of the lost vessel,
and of the kindly feeling thus shown by the government and people of the
United States of America towards the government and people of Great
Britain.*
&fe**x^x£e>*o ^AOS^T~
■ This valuable paper was read before the New York Historical Society, February 24, 1880.
The following clippings furnish a glimpse of public sentiment in England in connection with
the event above described. The Liverpool Mercury of December 17, 1856, said : " We feel more
gratified than we can well express by this demonstration of good-will on the part of our American
kinsman. May we not fairly regard this token of American good feeling as more than effacing the
unpleasant reminiscences connected with our international difference, in which, whoever may have
been most in the wrong, it cannot be said that we were altogether in the right ? For our own part,
we feel it totally impossible to resent any longer the dismissal of our envoy by a government which
sends us such a message of peace as the good ship Resolute."
The London Star of December 16, said : " The eye of the whole country is, at this moment,
turned upon Portsmouth, and in a manner that will be highly pleasing to the United States. The
Queen herself is one of the first to appreciate the generosity of the Americans, and to prepare for
a personal visit to the good ship ; and every inhabitant of these islands will rejoice to know that
the monarch at once comes forth to indicate a nation's joyful acceptance of this pledge of peace."
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES
One of the best things that can be said of our great nation is, that it
has a free press. No man has to be licensed or selected by the govern-
ment to print a book or publish a newspaper. It is circumscribed by no
law except natural selection. Any one can start a paper at any time, say
almost anything he desires to say, and if he chooses not to be suppressed,
there is no power to suppress him — except a " military necessity," and
once in a great while mob violence.
To make the press absolutely free, especially after the centuries of vile
censorship over it, was an act of wisdom transcending in importance the
original invention of moveable types. This enjoyment of a free press
means free speech, free schools, free religion, and, supremest and best of
all, free thought. If our government endures, and the people continue
free, here will be much of the reason thereof. Thomas Jefferson, who
penned the Declaration of Independence, one of the grandest documents
that ever fell from the pen of mortal man, wrote also : " If I had to choose
between a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a gov-
ernment, I should prefer the latter." The Rev. Mr. Talmage, in a recent
sermon, said : " If a man should, from childhood to old age, see only his
Bible, Webster's Dictionary, and his newspaper, he would be prepared for
all the duties of this life, or all the happiness of the next." Said Daniel
Webster : u I care not how unpretending a newspaper may be, every issue
contains something that is worth the subscription price." Thanks, then, a
million thanks, to our revolutionary sires for giving us the great boon of
a free press.
Westward the press, with the star of empire, made its way, and con-
tributed its part toward planting the standard of civilization in the " Dark
and Bloody Ground." On the nth day of August, 1787, now a hundred
years ago, was given to the public the first number of the first newpaper
published west of the Alleghanies, unless we except one established at
Pittsburg * a few weeks before. The coming of the newspaper and the
printing press is an era always, anywhere, and among any people. In a
young and fast growing community, it is an event of great portent to its
future, for in it, above any and all other institutions, are incalculable possi-
bilities for good, and sometimes well-grounded fears for evil. It was in no-
* Pittsburg can scarcely be termed west of the Alleghanies.
\22 THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF TPIE ALLEGHANIES
K. EN TUCK© GAZTTTH
S A T U R D A, V, NOVEMBER. 17. tfifi
£XT<1ACTS fxo the vara* of i ConTWtion b* ■RESOLVED. (Us: llucO' mcwberfof tho laid con- o'clock in the morning, he afccncd in elevated fpofj
*S^S TeljToTthediflria ;'of Kciuckc it Dan- VenSon atembW. Aallbo * fulBclcnC number to aft and, exclaimed" lam not yeidcad, and am full <
vnL~ii tic co jn:r of Mcicax. oiLtbe'i Tin day 01 journ iruia day 10 J*?, ind CO i(t\lC wrlu for fuppty< patriot V-
JjJl ..,,-; ing vacancicj which- may happen froiiLdcsths, t* In the late rencounter we took aTeHCtVKf&afl
*"* ™ " ' ' fijnarons. or refuel «o aft. «»- fcordlng to whofe report abouuoo nien ontheir fide!
:T> E50I V*D o» t'he'ket>reieBDb-«sc4-tI;e;oel :.■ RESOLVED, thai in cafe thcreThsinnrtro ■ tariff werckillcd.-andof theburgefe ciiKii place- levcn
tv cccpie o/tne duViAofKeatucke, in Convent* Within the r^pedive counties of tHc-diftrKj. of Ken* .arckiiled,. and about 25 -or 30 ivounded. Among tea
*n afe-rd W Witii expedkist for. and"t5e *i» of tuck;, at tic time t-V- fcvcral elections -arc directed fcboty obtained, by th* Victors, urMa«ffie$Br5i!9ffiQ
t^e twe, th.ttbe 11W diiwaic-etca^intoafcpe* to bcO^M^ar^iiccHon.iBJUhe /aid member,! El ,46omuf4e«s»-»Sreit.quartityolamm-UBit.on..4c.&ti
rati »od nriopeniak. Sttt»,*VUDC fejtajfftcd. cow ^BBseaioa^MWfsuJr-two actios .hragifttoi.es,. who togcthet.WUhJhs^rnUiMry .«hett^«onO)u&)£ 40438*
'6M*j*^>«rftVvV^YTiso"A'33 of Aflemhly, one may b^rerenronth^dijy forholding the laid tleetrt po--inS7 .,.".-,. _ , . „ „
int^cd^VVfl concerting the crcctlr t or th c di- oas* be ippo'ntei viMirnHEonsre. tcrOipcriatcnd and '• 'Upcntheatrival ofthefugitiv.es ftowtfie-reirrmenf
C^o;KtajpacfmQinrnd^wdJerrState;'-theot;>ci JwncVrthe faid^ctionandto make Tcrurtsin.ii.4 ef Van EfferervatViane, they werc.dif45mAd.antt d"c-
ebtkted"ia Act miking funberpra^fionfortbis-ctKtii finitinaiiDerasthcTnctinsareiiirectcd.tojdfl^ **'ned Irrrironersof-^ar*— -^-"-> _-.jr~ ., ^ ~ ■>
^ofiedifhsaofKcntucJceintbnlnderenacntStat^ ffim^^mSfjStutlSfi •- >;o»>6f The day beforevefle^^apirtyofhnfi
AESOLVED.thattbBConveat.ondonxthnthl? XHOMAOODfi. CW fars and, JgMAO vr#5 uftbjs ehaOeur.spf Sa em*hai
«:ft day or December, one thou fand ictw Surw.ca , « lmaIt,S^fe"th-,il d«^hmcnc of cavalry from
•;dc3b:v<*;hr, tobethe timeon which tfvnuthcrt ' »heregaMj»*hayl. when victory agarn. .declared
Tiryof. the CornmoD*eakhofVirgiai».iTi(J'oilK raws «"T R K (TR 1* "Way 9, (0 favoto-p^efenderaof their countnf.- vThecne?
csa-fte-drfin* of Kentucky fiiail ceafe and dcta- \T/E laaru tfiat a lew 3aya fince-a number of rerptiflS hiyfled^nsr.iofingreven or eight men,0.t<»Jiom cwa
fab* for ev«t» wider the exceptions fnecrBfetJ- to the \Y ; es..iT, acn» ding to report, were lent from, being deidjftdcneiumjally woundedj werebroughi
A3 enntW-" *A8 concemirg thtcroStBgof lt,j JUmeu^uerr »-an the rcgimcnu in the provinces of tothistay *j4 C jteefr rn ■".'■■ < iv,,iraKh»fthi(j
iirWaorBeoruckelntoan independent Staici--- ■- dnelaerlatia-and.'XJtredlt, orderlng.thcmto beinTea- horfe KiUed;uqdorhiirr, .->_,. J »1
fc^ES.Oi.VJEK.ltbaVafliddrefs to the i»0K5fe» diMf*fotnufc.Bir^ueojj,^ftoacftrtoii«,indjb^ td-lhat.^ipKM.paid deer .for his victory;; for tbe.difi
FAC-SIMILE OF HEADING OF NO. 15, VOL. I, KENTUCKY GAZETTE, I787.
\_Photjgraphed by Wybrant, Louisville, from original in possession of Col. R. T. Durrett.\
wise different in Kentucky, then (1787) a county of Virginia.* The people
of Kentucky were zealously discussing the propriety of separating from
Virginia, and setting up an independent state government, and to this end
a convention had been held in Danville, the territorial capital. A second
convention assembled there in 1785, for the same purpose, and during its
sitting it adopted the following resolution : " That to insure unanimity in
the opinion of the people respecting the propriety of separating the dis-
trict of Kentucky from Virginia and forming a separate state government,
and to give publicity to the proceedings of the convention, it is deemed
essential to the interests of the country to have a printing-press." The
convention appointed a committee to carry out the spirit of the resolution,
but it was two years before the matter v/as accomplished.
The paper was established by John Bradford at Lexington, then the
most important town west of the mountains. Mr. Bradford proposed to
the convention committee to establish a paper on the condition that the
convention would " guarantee to him the public patronage." The conven-
tion readily accepted his proposition, and preparations were at once begun
to inaugurate the important enterprise. The people of Lexington and the
surrounding country manifested their interest in the matter by the most
substantial encouragement. The Lexington board of trustees in July,
1786, ordered, ''That the use of a public lot be granted to John Bradford
free on condition that he establish a printing-press in Lexington." Brad-
ford sent to Philadelphia for the material, but it did not arrive until in
* Kentucky became a State in 1792.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHAMKS
12
the following summer, when it was put in order, and the first issue of the
Kentucke * Gazette (August 11, 1787) given to the community. It was
printed in the style of the times — f being used for s, and the subscrip-
tion price .was placed at eighteen shillings per annum. The first number
was a small unpretending sheet, scarcely so large as a half sheet of fools-
THE OLD-FORT AT LEXINGTON, BUHtln 1782.
cap. Its contents comprised two short original articles, one advertisement
and the following note from the editor :
My customers will excuse this, my first publication, as I am much hurried to get an im-
pression by the time appointed. A great part of the types fell into pi in the carriage of
them from Limestone to this office, and my partner, which (who) is the only assistant
I have, through an indisposition of the body, has been incapable of rendering the smallest
assistance for ten days past. John Bradford.
■ When we consider the mode of transportation of that day, and the
dangers attending it " by flood and field," the fact that " a great part of
the types fell into pi " is no matter of wonder. They had to be trans-
* Kentucky was originally spelt with a terminal e.
124 THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES
port eel overland from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, and from there down the
Ohio River by boat (a dangerous voyage, as it proved to many a band of
pioneers i to Limestone, now the flourishing little city of Maysville, Ken-
tuck}-. In every copse, behind almost every tree from Limestone to
Lexington, lurked unseen dangers; scarcely a rod of the distance but was
stained with the blood of the red man or that of his pale-faced foe. Along
this dangerous trail, where ever and anon was heard the crack of the In-
dian's rifle or his blood-curdling yell, Bradford's types and press were trans-
ported on pack-horses to the metropolis of Kentucky. What wonder then
that the types were ki pied," or that they arrived at their destination at all?
John Bradford, the pioneer editor of the West, was a native of Vir-
ginia, and was born in Fauquier County in 1749. He received a good
practical education, which, combined with strong common sense, made
him a leader among his fellows. He served in the Revolutionary War,
and after it was over (in 1785), he emigrated to Kentucky with his family,
and settled in Fayette County ; the next year he removed to Lexington,
where the remainder of his life was spent. He was a practical printer, as
was his father before him, and he brought up his sons to the same busi-
ness. The next year after he established the Gazette, he published, the
" Kentucky Almanac," the first pamphlet printed west of the mountains,
and the annual publication of which he continued for twenty years. Mr.
Bradford, as may be seen from the old files of the Gazette, was not a brill-
iant editor, but, what was better for the times in which he lived, he was a
man of practical sense and sterling honesty. He held many positions of
trust and honor. He was long chairman of the board of village trustees;
he was for a time chairman of the board of trustees of Transylvania Uni-
versity ; he was the first state printer, and received from the state govern-
ment one hundred pounds sterling, as the emoluments of the office. He
printed books as early as 1794, and some of his early publications are still
to be seen in both private and public libraries. His mind was so well
stored with useful and valuable information that he was considered the
town oracle, and from his decisions on local topics there was no appeal.
The great confidence the people had in his judgment won for him the
sobriquet of " Old Wisdom," a title well merited. He was high sheriff of
Fayette County at the time of his death, which occurred in March, 1830.
Circuit court was in session at the time, and the presiding judge alluded to
his death in eloquent terms, and adjourned court in respect to his memory.
The editorial surroundings of Mr. Bradford would contrast strangely
with the princely style of the great metropolitan journals of the present
day. His printing office was a rude log cabin. He printed his paper upon
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE AEEEGHANIES 125
an old-fashioned, unwieldy hand press, which he had purchased at second
hand in Philadelphia, and which, when pushed to its full capacity, would
probably turn off from fifty to seventy-five sheets per hour. When he
wrote at night it was by a fire-wood light, a bear-grease lamp, or a buffalo
tallow candle. His " editor's easy chair" was a three-legged stool, and his
editorial table corresponded in style. An ink-horn and a rifle comprised
the rest of his office furniture. The advertisements to be seen in the old
numbers of the Gazette are as quaint as was the office and its equipments.
Spinning wheels, knee buckles, buckskin for
breeches, gun flints, hair powder, saddle-bag
locks, were advertised. A notice states
that, " Persons who subscribe to the frame
meeting-house can pay in cattle or whisky."
Another notice warns the public not to
" tamper with corn or potatoes " at a cer-
tain place, as they had been " poisoned to
trap some vegetable stealing Indians." The
following appears over the signature of
Charles Bland : " I will not pay a note given
to Wm. Turner for three second-rate cows Trt„K DD^ -
JOHN BRADFORD.
till he returns a rifle, blanket, and toma- founder o/the Kentucky Gazette, 1787.]
hawk I loaned him." The Constitution of
the United States is published, with a note to the public, that it is " just
framed by the grand convention now in session." The early files show
a great dearth of local items. But this is not strange when we remember
that there were then no steamboat or railroad accidents — not even steam-
boats or railroads — and that there was no telegraph connecting the differ-
ent centers of civilization like spider webs ; but that the editor's steam-
boat, railroad, telegraph and mail carrier, were all comprised in a pack mule.
John Bradford's name was connected with the press of Lexington in
one capacity or another, almost to the time of his death. He conducted
the Gazette with great energy until 1802, when he turned it over to his
son, Daniel Bradford, and he took charge of the Kentucky Herald, the sec-
ond paper established in the West. This paper he absorbed, and finally
merged into the Gazette, and he again became the editor. In 1809 he sold
the paper to Thomas Smith, who conducted it until 1814, when it again
passed into the hands of the Bradfords. In 1825 the original founder of
the Gazette, John Bradford, again assumed its editorship, but in 1829,
George J. Trotter, a man of considerable brilliance, became editor. In
1835 Daniel Bradford (John Bradford had died in 1 830) once more assumed
126
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES
fUuC^&ji^ -^
control, but in 1S4O sold out to Joshua Cunningham, of Louisville, who
conducted it until 1848, when its publication ceased, after a career of over
sixty years.
During the existence of the Kentucky Gazette, political feeling at times
ran very high, and the Gazette was no neutral organ in the discussion of
the questions which agitated the public. In the Jackson campaigns it was
an ardent supporter of old Hickory, and it hurled its political projectiles
at the Whigs like battering rams. In 1829 Thomas R. Benning, the editor,
gj>^ was shot dead on account of
intense political excitement
and scathing publications in
his paper. After his death
George J. Trotter became
editor. He was a brilliant
writer, and during his edito-
rial career the paper wielded
a greater influence probably
than at any other period of
its existence.
The old citizens of Lexing-
ton relate many interesting
incidents of John Bradford.
One will suffice to embellish
this sketch. John Bradford and the great statesman Henry Clay, whose
home was at Lexington, although usually on opposite sides of the political
fence, were socially the warmest friends. Like many of the early citizens
of central Kentucky, they were, in their younger days, fond of cards, and
in their social games they sometimes bet to excess. One evening, during
an interesting game, betting ran unusually high, and when they quit play
Clay had won 840,000 from Bradford. The next day Bradford met him,
when the following conversation occurred :
" Clay, what are you going to do about that money you won last night ?
My entire property won't pay the half of it."
" Oh," said Clay, " give me your note for $500, and let the balance go."
The note was given, and in a few nights they got into another game,
when the fortunes of war changed, and Bradford came out $60,000 winner.
When they met next day, nearly the same conversation occurred as on a
previous occasion, but Bradford settled it by saying, " Oh, give me back
my note for 8500, and we'll call it square."
The second paper in Kentucky and the West was also established at
\Photographed by Wybrant from original in possession of
CjI. R. T. Durrctt.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER WEST OF THE ALLEGHANIES
I27
Lexington. For a number of years after settlements began to be made in
Kentucky, Lexington was the metropolis. It was the first capital after
the state was admitted into the Union, and was the leading town, not
only of Kentucky, but all the Western country. It was the great commer-
cial center, and Cincinnati, Vincennes, St. Louis, and Kaskaskia, for years,
did their wholesale buying of goods in its markets. Thus, it became a
place of business enterprise and industry.
Its second newspaper was started in 1795,
three years after Kentucky was admitted
as a state into the Federal Union. It
was called Stewart's Kentucky Herald, and
was established by James H. Stewart. Its
publication was continued for about ten
years, when it was absorbed by the Brad-
fords and the Kentucky Gazette.
The Herald was a paper of consider-
able ability for that early period. It
crossed swords with the Gazette, and their
contests became often sharp and bitter,
and were waged by both sides with hearty
and vigorous blows. It finally became
apparent to the shrewd and observant
Bradford, that the surest way of silencing the enemy's guns, was to capture
them. With this end in view, he purchased the Herald and merged it
into the Gazette. In 1798 William Hunter established the Kentucky
Mirror at Washington, a town situated some four miles from the city of
Maysville. In 1799 he established the Palladium in Frankfort, the present
capital of the state.
The papers thus far enumerated comprised the Western press up to
the year 1800. Since then it has kept pace with the marvelous march of
civilization, and has prospered as the country prospered ; and it is no vain
boast to say that to-day the press of Kentucky — the first-born of the new
confederation of states — is second to that of no state in the Union.
PRESENT BUSINESS BLOCK ON SITE OF OLD FORT
AND BLOCK HOUSE.
^<2£^-r-tsLA^>
THE LATROBE CORN-STALK COLUMNS
IN THE CAPITOL AT WASHINGTON
m
m
$
In the vestibule of the Capitol at Washington,
beneath the office of the Marshal of the Supreme
Court, are the only truly American columns in ex-
istence. If the student of architecture regrets that
this country has not produced any architectural
effort of its own he should be referred to this work
of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, who succeeded Messrs.
Hallet, Hadfield & Hoban as the Capitol architect,
and perfected the designs of Dr. Thornton. In a
letter of Latrobe's to Thomas Jefferson he refers as
follows to his designs : " I have packed up and sent
to Richmond, to be forwarded to Monticello, a box
containing the model of the columns for the lower
vestibule of the senatorial department of the north
wing of the Capitol, which is composed of ears of
maize. . . . These capitals, during the summer
session, obtained me more applause from the mem-
bers of Congress than all the works of magnitude
or difficulty that surround them. They christened
them ' corn-cob capitals ; ' whether for the sake of
alliteration I cannot tell, but certainly not very ap-
propriately."
This letter was addressed to Mr. Jefferson, and
bears the date of August 28, 1809. Latrobe, not
Jefferson, was the designer of the pillars. Many
considered the latter to be their parent, because he
took such interest in the erection of the Capitol,
and is known to have proposed many changes to the
architect. Jefferson spoke to Latrobe of the lack
of individuality in our public buildings, and asked
why he did not conventionalize some of our na-
tive vegetation into appropriate columnar designs.
Doubtless acting upon this, Latrobe produced the
corn-stalk columns which now stand in a somewhat
THE LATROBE CORN-STALK COLUMNS 1 29
unnoticed portion of the Capitol. Each column is composed of a cluster
of Indian corn-stalks bound together so that the joints of one stalk stand
slightly above the preceding one ; thus, by the recurrence of the joints in
the seven divisions of every stalk, a spiral effect is produced. The capi-
tals are composed of ears of maize with the half-open husks displaying
the corn, which in its upright position has been criticised as being too stiff.
Whatever the faults of the original pillars may be, they are a bold stride
toward forming for ourselves an ornamentation peculiarly in keeping with
our new and vigorous government. That our buildings have to be sup-
ported by the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns, unrelieved by any-
thing of our own conception, is strange, when we consider the independ-
ence of the people of the United States. We have given to the Old
World our mechanical inventions, the benefits of scientific research, yet we
borrow from the East our architectural forms. Mrs. Trollope, in viewing
these columns, called them the most beautiful things she saw in primitive
America.
Gramercy Park, New York.
Vol. XVII.— No. 2.-
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
A hundred years ago the Federal Constitution was framed in conven-
tion at Philadelphia. The causes that led to its formation are of an eco-
nomic character. In 1787 the relation between the states and the United
States was not wholly unlike that which then existed between the East
India Company and the native princes of India : the princes enjoyed the
forms, the company possessed the powers of government. Until after the
treaty of Versailles, Congress was a revolutionary body; it had assumed
the forms of government. In response to its suggestion each colony ex-
cept Rhode Island had " taken up civil government," and had framed a
state constitution. The Articles of Confederation, as soon as adopted, be-
came the subject of proposed amendments. Seven states moved amend-
ments early in 1781, of which those of New Jersey proposed to vest in
Congress the exclusive power of regulating trade, domestic and foreign;
of collecting duties for the general welfare ; and of selling the western or
crown lands for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the war. But
these propositions were rejected. The Confederation remained through-
out its existence without the means or the right to resort to the methods
of executing its will, such as were exercised by the governments of the
separate states.
For the power in government to serve processes upon individuals there
can be no substitute. Under the Confederation the United States could
not address itself directly to individuals ; it reached the individual, if it
reached him at all, through the authority of the state of which he was a
citizen. The legislatures and governors of thirteen states were the rulers
in America from the time of the expulsion of George III. till the inaugura-
tion of Washington. With the state governments, Congress seldom had
more influence than had the Rajah of Benares with the Governor-General
at Calcutta during those romance days of pride and power in the early
history of the East India Company. With state authorities Congress
kept up a ceaseless correspondence through garrulous committees; the
committees were timorous, the governors jealous, and the legislatures un-
friendly.
The executive functions which we are accustomed to see performed by
a cabinet officer were then performed, somewhat ineffectually, by a com-
mittee. John Adams has left an energetic complaint that, " putting the
treasury in commission violated every principle of finance." A century
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 131
later, the United States is ruled by the committees of the House of Rep-
resentatives. While under the Articles of Confederation the people of the
United States were on the way toward government under a Constitution,
a form of government which in the nineteenth century has developed both
in America and Europe into the rule of committees. The consent of
nine states, which was necessary for the support of any measure of conti-
nental importance, could with greatest difficulty be obtained. Congress
talked and voted, but the majority of the states invariably refused to col-
lect quotas of money, or so long deferred collection that delay became
refusal. The ablest men were no longer in Congress. Only wealthy citi-
zens like Franklin or Adams could accept a ministry abroad ; only citizens
of large property could be eligible to office at home. The governor of
Massachusetts must possess a freehold estate worth a thousand pounds,
and the governor of South Carolina must possess an estate worth ten
thousand. Pennsylvania required only the payment of taxes as a franchise
qualification ; elsewhere a member of assembly, a privy counselor, a judge
of the superior court, must possess an estate valued at least at five hundred
pounds. The higher the office, the greater was the required amount of
property. A judge of the supreme court was appointed by the governor
quite as much for his ability to support the dignity as to perform the
duties of the bench. But the requisition of real property was a qualifica-
tion not limited to government officials. The poor man could not vote.
In New York an elector for state senator was required to possess a free-
hold worth one hundred pounds free of debt ; in the Carolinas he must
own an unencumbered estate of fifty acres. The adult male white popula-
tion of the entire country was not half a million souls, of which the number
" duly qualified to be electors " did not exceed two hundred thousand
men. The freemen of America a century ago comprised about one-fif-
teenth of the whole population.
The dispute between the Parliament of England and the people of
America chiefly concerned trade and commerce. Industrial preceded
political interests. Political rights were won first, and after the lapse of a
hundred years the struggle for industrial and social rights still continues.
Commercial prosperity would long have held American independence in
abeyance, but the essential reasons for the Revolution were held to the
front by the relentless pressure of economic events. The war, begun as
an industrial struggle, continued a problem in industry, and left behind
grave industrial and social problems not yet settled. In attempting to
solve these problems, then, the people of the United States founded
the present Federal Government.
132 THE ORIGIN'- OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
As to the best manner of establishing a revenue, Congress and the
states were at perpetual variance. Congress did not resort to piracy, but
it tried almost every other device to raise money known to bold men
and weak governments. In 1776 it "voted supplies" which the States
were to furnish. In 1778 it " urged supplies." In 1780 it printed paper
money. In 1785 it begged supplies from indifferent state legislatures, and
two years later public credit was prostrate. At the opening of the war
eight million dollars in specie and twenty and two of paper had been in
circulation. A committee of Congress in 1775 estimated the expenses of
the impending war at two million dollars and continental bills to that
amount were struck off. Later, another issue of three millions was made.
In February, 1776, four millions were printed, a portion of which was in
fractional parts of a dollar. Continental scrip began to depreciate and
Congress issued five millions in July, 1777, and authorized fifteen millions
more. A loan was then proposed at four per cent., the " faith of the
United States" being pledged for five millions to be borrowed imme-
diately; but money was worth six per cent., and capitalists would not
lend against odds. Congress offered six per cent, and tried a lottery —
that delusive scheme which for more than seventy years was the familiar
and favorite procedure in America, of states and churches, of colleges,
bridge-builders, and impecunious persons of every kind, to pay honest
debts, raise salaries, erect houses of worship, equip college halls, and con-
struct roads and canals at the expense of the unlucky.
The congressional lottery did not prosper, and the states were again
admonished to remit their quotas. Another scheme, considered novel and
sagacious, was to raise the apportionment by anticipation, and place the
amounts received to the credit of the several states. This was called at
the time " the same goose with a change of sauce." The people bore
taxation with little grace ; the poor man could not discriminate betv/een
taxation by a Congress and taxation by a Parliament. In 1777 another
issue of thirteen millions was made, and the states also began to issue
paper money ; the amount of continental paper in circulation toward the
close of the year was fifty-five and a half millions. In 1778 there were
fourteen issues by Congress, amounting to sixty-three and a half millions ;
the states continued their issues, and the rude state of the art of printing
and engraving explained the prevalence of counterfeits of every denom-
ination. During the first quarter of 1779 sixty-five millions more were
printed, and Congress attempted to negotiate a loan of twenty millions.
The national sin was speculation ; every tavern became a broker shop ;
state money bore the better price. But trade languished. Ships from
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 1 33
friendly powers shunned American ports. The traveler from Boston to
Savannah was compelled to change his money thirteen times, paying as
many discounts. The discount fell as he journeyed southward, but his gold
coins became a greater treasure and curiosity. People flooded with me-
morials the Congress which they did not respect. Advice was freely given.
There is plenty of gold and silver, but it is all shipped abroad ; let Con-
gress forbid the exportation of coin and our money will be worth some-
thing. Let every patriot devote a dish, a spoon, or a buckle, and the
Federal melting pot will soon be full. Let people stop speculation, go
to work, economize, and money will take care of itself. But Congress,
with whom custom was an easy matter, answered all complaints by
making another paper issue of five-and-forty millions. The friends of
" metal money " began to calculate the time when the country would be
crushed by the weight of " whole reams of depreciated paper." By the
last of November the total emission of continental paper amounted to
two hundred millions, of which more than one hundred and forty millions
were for that year alone. Congress abandoned further issues after 1779.
Congress met for the first time under the Articles of Confederation,
March 2, 1781, and at once proposed that the states surrender to it the
right to issue bills of credit. The proposition was promptly rejected.
Some states, in order to redeem their paper money, had confiscated the
property of royalists. The United States had no authority to confiscate
such property, nor had it property of its own upon which to base its own
issues. Continental scrip was secured by faith alone. After the treaty of
peace, in 1783, Congress was almost forgotten. Scarcely a quorum to do
business could be gathered within its halls. Now and then the people
heard of endless discussions about the navigation of the Mississippi, the
surrender of Western forts, the speculation in Western lands, and the
wicked conduct of John Jay and the Spanish minister. The energies of
the people wrere absorbed in new activities incident to a return to civil life.
Men began to talk about the West. The cloth-covered ox-cart of the
emigrant from New England was seen crawling like an enormous insect,
with monstrous ribs, along the main road from Albany to Black Rock.
Virginia veterans were passing over the mountains into the blue lands of
Kentucky. Land scrip became the title to palatinates along the Maumee
and the Scioto, and the Block House at Erie became the official centre of
the Northwest. Paper money possessed only a fictitious value. In later
years, Secretary Woodward estimated that the depreciation of continental
issues cost the people about $200,000,000.
Soon after the meeting of Congress, Dr. Witherspoon, one of the dele-
154 THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
gates from New Jersey, introduced a resolution that the States should
vest Congress with the exclusive right to superintend the commercial reg-
ulations of every state, and to levy duties upon all imported articles.
This plain method of securing a revenue emerged from the tedious debates
as a recommendation to the states to allow Congress to levy, for the use
of the United States, a duty of five per cent, upon all foreign merchandise
imported into any of the states, the revenue to be applied to pay the pub-
lic debt. The duty was to continue until the debt should be " fully and
finally paid." When the plan came before the state legislatures, Rhode
Island refused its consent, and the suggestion came to naught. In 1783
Congress asked the states to grant permission to levy a fixed duty upon
spirituous liquors, tea, coffee, sugar, and molasses, and a five per cent, ad
valorem duty upon all other articles, for the period of twenty-five years.
An annual revenue of a million and a half dollars was expected from such
a source, which would discharge the public debt, principal and interest.
The collectors were to be appointed by the states, but to be amenable to
Congress. At this time the commission of the treasury sent out its
report. The revenue of the Confederation, in five months, had been only
one-fourth of the amount needed to support the government for a single
day. But the gloomy report from the treasury had no effect on selfish,
jealous state legislators. Rhode Island again refused consent ; the vote of
New York was lost by division. Congress had made its last effort to
obtain adequate powers to restore the public credit.
Meantime, among the people a counter revolution had begun. All
classes were discussing the low condition of trade, commerce, and cur-
rency. Opinions of every shade were current. There were imposters and
non-imposters, paper-money men and hard-money men. "Trade should be
left to take care of itself. Congress better go home ; if the states should
grant such a revenue Congress would squander it, as millions had been
squandered already." " The commerce of the country was at the mercy of
foreign powers, and, as everybody knew that the thirteen states would
never agree on the subject, Congress should be empowered to regulate the
industrial interests of the country." So ran replies and rejoinders. The
merchants of Boston set forth the deplorable condition of business, and
formally petitioned the General Court to instruct the Massachusetts dele-
gates in Congress to bring up the whole question again. They found a leader
in Governor Bowdoin, who told the state legislature that bitter experi-
ence had shown the necessity of bestowing upon Congress the power to
control trade for a limited time. He suggested that each state appoint
delegates to a trade convention, in which they might settle amicably what
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 1 35
powers should be given to the general government. But the Massachu-
setts delegates, led by Rufus King, arguing that any change in the Con-
federation would lead to the establishment of an aristocracy, defeated the
present realization of the governor's plan.
The ec6nomic errors of our fathers cannot be said to be of absorbing
interest, but their faults are important when viewed in relation to other
errors of the age. The economic policies of continental nations, of which
that pursued by Frederick the Great may be taken as a type, had a decis-
ive influence upon the commercial status of this country during the last
years of the eighteenth century. By the American war, and the political
and industrial complications in India, the British navigation system
received a fatal blow. No longer could England locate the markets of the
world and dictate the terms of trade. The industries of the globe, long
held in arbitrary check by the jealous and stupid policies of petty, warring
cabinets in small continental states, were slightly loosening from their
grasp. With freedom came newness of industrial life. The United States
became the one neutral nation of the civilized portion of the globe, and
this unique position had a remarkable and favorable effect upon her popu-
lation. The winning of American independence was the stimulus to the
industrial action of the modern world.
Political economy was not taught in American schools, nor is the phrase
found in the newspapers of a century ago. An examination of the consti-
tutions of various American states, down to the close of Jackson's admin-
istration, brings out no evidence that the delegates to Constitution con-
ventions, or to sessions of the legislature of the state called for the pur-
pose of revising or making a constitution, troubled themselves with the
doctrines of Malthus or Ricardo, nor discussed the intricate relations of in-
ternational trade. A strike was then a crime. The morale of labor was low ;
both relatively and absolutely the laborer was worse off than he is to-day
in such work as still remains in kind among us. Machinery has so changed
the effectiveness of labor that only the simplest employments enter into
the comparison. But a careful examination of the daily affairs of the
American people of that time clearly shows that some of the elements of
the present " industrial war " were not wholly undefined then. The nation
was bankrupt, and a bankrupt nation has a large stock of economic diffi-
culties on hand. These difficulties were aggravated by the jarring com-
mercial laws of the several states. Could the merchant of Philadelphia
fail to know that the discrimination against him, when he sent his goods
to New York, was unjust ? As he handled the curious currency of his
native land, and the more curious currency made by private enterprise and
I 36 THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
foreign speculators — coarse paper issues from fourteen governments about
him — Spanish joes, pewter coins, silver-washed, imported to deceive him,
and penny tokens, thinly gilded, which he must ring upon his counter and
test between his teeth, could he fail to discover that public credit was rap-
idly ebbing away ?
Amidst such prostration we might not expect to find powerful opposi-
tion to any remedy to public disorders — but opposition of this kind was
common. " Congress has no right to adopt the commercial laws of one
state rather than those of another; whose commercial laws would all be
willing to obey ? Nor will the states ever allow Congress to prescribe com-
mercial laws of its own, for has not New York, led by Governor Clinton,
repeatedly refused to Congress any right whatever to interfere in the trade
of that state ? " The merchants in the North and the planters in the
South at last reached the same conclusion. " If Congress lays an impost,"
said the merchants, "we will gain, because the duty will be paid by the
consumer, and we shall no longer be troubled by the constant fluctuations
in prices caused by the conflicting laws of so many states; smuggling will
cease, and prices will be regulated by a common unit of measure — general
commercial laws." " If Congress fixes an impost," said the planters, "we
shall no longer be obliged to compete with raw products from abroad, and
the discrimination in our favor will raise the price of our products and
create a home market." The planters and the merchants supported Con-
gress.
As the merchants of Boston had found a friend in Governor Bowdoin,
the planters of Virginia appealed to the House of Burgesses, and found
an advocate in James Madison. On the last day of the session of 1786,
Madison succeeded in getting the House to pass an act the consequences
of which no statesman could have foreseen. He began a movement which,
from obscure beginnings, gained strength and favor with every slight
advance; which passed quickly and almost imperceptibly from state to
state, and swelled at last into a national impulse, that found adequate ex-
pression in the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Between Maryland and Virginia the Potomac River was the boundary
— the common highway of commerce to and from the States bordering on
its waters. The duties levied by these states were constantly evaded and
each state accused the other of harboring smugglers. Complaints were
repeatedly brought before the state legislatures. As early as 1784 Madi-
son had made personal observation of these infractions of inter-state law
and had written to Jefferson suggesting the appointment of a joint com-
mission of the states of Virginia and Maryland in order to ascertain the re-
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 1 37
spective rights and powers of the states over the commerce on the river.
A bill was soon brought into the Virginia House of Burgesses ; three com-
missioners were appointed for that commonwealth ; three were appointed
by Maryland, and in March, 1785, the commission met at Alexandria, but
soon adjourned to Mt. Vernon. As the commissioners entered upon an
examination of the interests committed to their charge, many questions
pertinent to the case but beyond their jurisdiction arose. Delaware and
Pennsylvania were concerned in the commerce on the river ; if it was to
the interest of Maryland and Virginia to agree to uniform duties, was not
a similar agreement beneficial to Pennsylvania and Delaware? If to these
four states, why not also to all the states in the Union? These ideas, ad-
vanced by Washington, became the seed of a more perfect Union. While
yet at Mt. Vernon the commissioners drew up a report suggesting that
two commissioners be appointed by each of the states along the Potomac
to report a uniform system next year. Maryland at once invited Pennsyl-
vania and Delaware to participate in a common commercial policy, but
Virginia, leading the way to grander things, passed a similar resolution,
extending its provisions ; and, sending a copy to each state, invited all to
appoint delegates to meet in a Trade Convention at Annapolis, on the
second Monday in September, 1786. The spirit of the planters and the
merchants had taken hold of the politicians. It was this resolution that
the House of Burgesses passed on the last day of the session of 1786, and
Madison had inserted a clause, which met the approval of that body, that
the convention about to be called should take into consideration the trade
and commerce of the whole country, and that Congress should be vested
with powers to regulate commerce.
The people, meanwhile, alarmed by continued industrial depression and
impending bankruptcy, had sought refuge in the very evils which had
caused the imminent extinction of public credit. The rage for paper
money had broken out afresh and more violently than before. Legislators
lost their wits. " We have no money, but let us make money and wipe
out our debts." In seven states the hard-money men were outvoted.
Within the year Maryland, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Rhode
Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont issued great quantities of paper
money. They also attempted to enforce its circulation by law. " If a
man refused to take a state bill he shall be made to suffer." Public morals
fell with the currency. The worst element of the debtor class congregated
in armed mobs and prevented the sittings of the courts in Massachusetts
that executions might not issue against delinquent debtors. Whole coun-
ties in New England became demoralized. Blood was shed in Rhode
i;S THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
Island when the sheriffs attempted to carry the forcing laws into effect.
Shay's rebellion raged all winter in western Massachusetts. The mer-
chants, the lawyers, and the courts were the objects of popular hatred and
abuse. The governors of Rhode Island and Vermont openly favored the
insurgents in Massachusetts. The jails were alternately filled by the sher-
iff and emptied by the mob. Farmers refused to bring their produce to
the towns. Consumers and producers were at enmity, and values were for
a time upset by odious laws passed to bolster up a limp and worthless cur-
rency. Had it not been for the veterans of the war the scenes of the
French revolution would have found a precedent in America.
The winter of 17S6-87 was unusually severe. The laborer complained
that his occasional employment was poorly paid with a paper bill of vary-
ing value with which he could not supply his family with the necessaries
of life. Merchants complained that the farmers would not trade with them,
and that they could not afford to barter, as their stock was imported and
had been paid for in coin. Tax collectors returned men who for years
had been reputed the wealthiest men of the town. Thoughtful men grew
alarmed. Washington's circular letter from Newburg read like a prophecy :
" We shall be left nearly in a state of nature, or we may find by our own
unhappy experience that there is a natural and necessary progression from
the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny, and that arbitrary
power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused by licen-
tiousness." Amidst the bankruptcy of the times many States passed laws
impairing the obligation of contracts. The sense of justice seemed lost to
the Republic. If the inviolability of private rights was to be lawfully ig-
nored and formally declared void by public legislation, then after that
" the deluge." " Interference with private rights and the steady dispen-
sation with justice" wrote Madison in after years, "were the evils which
above all others led to the new Constitution."
The general government had repudiated its debts, and the several
states now began to scale or to repudiate theirs. When contracts no
longer had the sanction of law there could be little discrimination between
public credit and public debt. At Mount Vernon Washington had said
to the commissioners : " The proposition is self-evident. We are either a
united people or we are not so ; if the former, let us in all matters of na-
tional concern act as a nation which has a national character to support.
If the states individually attempt to regulate commerce, an abortion or a
many-headed monster will be the issue. If we consider ourselves or wish
to be considered by others as a united people, why not adopt the meas-
ures which are characteristic of it and support the honor and dignity of
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 1 39
one? If we are afraid to trust one another under qualified powers, there
is an end of union."
During the winter of 1785-86 Congress rarely constituted a quorum.
The Confederation was falling to pieces. State legislatures found diffi-
culty in electing delegates to Congress. The office brought neither
profit, fame, nor congenial duties. On the 15th February, 1786, the com-
mittee appointed by Congress out of its own body to take into consider-
ation the state of the Union made a remarkable report. "The states have
failed to come up to their requisitions. The public embarrassments are
daily increasing. It is the instant duty of Congress to declare most explic-
itly that the crisis has arrived when the people of the United States, by
whose will and for whose benefit the Federal Government has been insti-
tuted, must speedily decide whether they will support their rank as a na-
tion by maintaining the public faith at home and abroad, and by a timely
exertion in establishing a general revenue, strengthen the Confederation,
and no longer hazard not only the existence of the Union but also the ex-
istence of those great and invaluable rights for which they have so ardu-
ously and honorably contended." The helplessness of Congress and the
collapse of the Confederation was thus solemnly and publicly confessed to
the world.
New Jersey broke the last strand of the Confederation by refusing to pay
its quota of one hundred and sixty-six thousand dollars, in 1786. In vain
did the Congressional Committee plead the cause of the Union before the
legislature of that state. New York granted Congress the right to im-
pose a revenue, but destroyed the value of the grant by a special clause.
When Congress feebly protested, Governor Clinton plainly told that
anomalous body that he did not consider the matter of importance whether
the debts were paid or not ; New York was capable of managing its own
affairs, and its interests were paramount to thoss of Congress.
Foreign affairs were in an equally bad plight. On the 5th of January,
1786, Temple wrote to the English Government : " The trade and naviga-
tion of the states appear to be now in a great measure at a stand still."
On the 9th of April following, Otto wrote to the French ministry : " It is
necessary either to dissolve the Confederation or to give to Congress
means proportional to its wants. It calls upon the states for the last
time to act as a nation. It affords them a glimpse of the fatal and inevi-
table consequences of bankruptcy, and it declares to the whole world that
it is not to blame for the violation of the engagements which it has made
in the name of its constituents. All its resources are exhausted ; the
payment of taxes diminishes daily, and scarcely suffices for the moderate
140 THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION
expenses of the government ; the present crisis concerns solely the exist-
ence of Congress and of the Confederation. The most important members
of Congress are doing all in their power to add to the Act of Confederation
some articles which the present situation of affairs appears to render in-
dispensable ; they propose to give to Congress executive powers and the
right to make exclusively emissions of paper .money, and of regulating
commerce." Franklin had written to Jefferson, then in Paris, that the
disposition to furnish Congress with ample powers was augmenting daily
as people became more enlightened. The newspapers teemed with the
writings of " Cato " and " Camillus," " Plain Farmer " and " Cincinnatus."
Numerous pamphlets labored with " the present discontents." Professors
in the colleges lectured on the Greek and the Italian Republics and the
needs of the American Confederation. Clergymen chose political texts
and lawyers debated problems in finance and government while the court
was taking recess. The interests of trade, currency, and commerce were
swiftly assuming a political character.
The Trade Convention met at Annapolis in September, 1786, but the
attendance of delegates was so small as to discourage the few who had
assembled from taking into prolonged consideration at that time the grave
questions that agitated the country. Neither Georgia nor South Carolina
had sent delegates ; nor was a single New England state represented.
Little was done except to meet and adjourn. But before adjourning
Madison and Hamilton agreed upon a report, which, drawn with all of
Hamilton's foresight, was adopted by the convention after a discussion of
two days. The report urged that a new convention composed of delegates
from each state, possessed of greater powers, should be called to meet in
Philadelphia, on the 10th of May, 1787. Copies of this report were sent
to each state. Again Virginia took the lead, and on the 9th of November
the House of Burgesses passed a bill, brought in by Madison, that the
state should send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. The first
delegate chosen by Virginia was her foremost citizen, Washington. Madi-
son was the fifth chosen, and his services in the convention were destined
to be greater than those of any other delegate on the floor. Virginia was
followed by New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, North Carolina, and
Georgia, which in succession chose their ablest men. In Massachusetts, a
bitter opposition delayed the election of delegates till the 21st of Febru-
ary, when Congress also gave its weak and formal consent to the conven-
tion. Rhode Island never sent a delegation, but before midsummer every
other state was represented. On the 10th of May, 1787, the convention
assembled in the Old State House where so many of the delegates had
THE ORIGIN OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 141
already won their just fame. The convention closed its doors on the sec-
ond day of its session, and the delegates, under oath of secrecy, pro-
ceeded to take into consideration the state of the nation. When autumn
came, the work of the convention was done — a work far different than that
for which the members had been elected. The Constitution of the United
States was given to the people. The country had supposed that the con-
vention was merely a trade convention. But we now know the secret
history, or at least the greater portion of the history of the proceedings of
the convention. It was published fifty years ago, when nearly all of the
framers of our Federal Constitution were in their graves. Those wise men
were equal to the grave problems before them ; their names find an im-
perishable monument in the work of their hands ; they linked together the
industrial and political interests of the nation, and formed a more perfect
Union. But the causes which led to the making of the Constitution were
economic rather than political in character.
ur^vuk6 /L tfiWvjv^
INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The ownership of lands in severalty by Indians is one of the important
questions of social science to-day. Its bearings are both political and hu-
manitarian, and its proper adjustment has awakened the sympathy and
employed the wisdom of philanthropists, male and female, throughout the
land. It ma)' not be within the knowledge of many of the present dwell-
ers in Berkshire County that the experiment and its results were made
facts in Stockbridge nearly one hundred and fifty years ago, and in con-
nection with similar attempts on a smaller scale in some other of our New
England commonwealths ; and its repetition with the emigrant Housaton-
ics on their present reservation in Wisconsin is exceedingly interesting.
One fateful day, the nth of June, 1750, the dusky roamers of the
lower Housatonic valley gathered at the mission meeting-house in Stock-
bridge, for a purpose the importance of which probably neither they nor
their few pale-faced neighbors at the time fully realized. That purpose is
set forth in the following document from the State archives :
" In Council, Dec. 29, 1749.
It is hereby resolved & declared that the Indians of ye Housatonic Tribe who are &
have been settlers or proprietors of land within the town of Stockbridge & their heirs or
descendants are & shall be a distinct propriety, & that Timothy Dwight Esq. be,
& hereby is, directed & empowered to repair to said town as soon as may be, & call
a meeting of the proprietors aforesaid by posting a notification in writing on the foreside
of the meeting house in said town, 14 days before the time appointed for holding
said meeting, setting forth the time, place, ends & purposes of said meeting ; at which
meeting said proprietors are hereby empowered, by a major vote, to ascertain the number
of the proprietors & what each proprietor's portion shall be, and to choose a clerk who
shall be under oath to record all legal votes, grants & orders of said proprietors in a
book for the purpose, & also of all the lands heretofore laid out by order of the commit-
tee formerly appointed by the General Court for that purpose. And the said proprietors
are hereby empowered to call meetings hereafter at any time that ten of said proprietors
shall judge necessary, they applying to the Clerk by writing under their hands for the
same, setting forth the ends & purposes of said meeting, & the clerk posting the same
on the foreside of the meeting house 14 days before the said meeting be held ; at
which meetings respectively the major part of said proprietors are hereby empowered to
choose a moderator & all such officers as proprietors of general fields, by the laws of
this Province may do & for the better regulating & ordering the affairs of said propri-
ety ; & to divide & dispose of their undivided lands to & amongst the said propri-
etor-,, or any of them, as they shall judge necessary for their settlement & improvement.
And also may admit Indians of other tribes to live amongst them, & they make grants
INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS 143
of lands to such Indians in order to their improving- the same ; such grants to be made
with this proviso or condition — that, in case the said grantee or his descendants shall
leave the settlement, & remove from said town of Stockbridge, they shall not have the
power of alienating or any way disposing of said granted lands ; but the same shall revert
to the proprietors.
And it is further declared that the Indian inhabitants of the town of Stockbridge are,
& shall be, subjected to & receive the benefit of the laws of this Government to all in-
tents & purposes in like manner as other, his Majesty's subjects of this Province are sub-
jected or do receive. Provided always, that nothing in this order shall be understood to
enable any of His Majesty's English subjects to become purchasers of any part of the In-
dian lands contrary to ye provision made by law for preventing the same.
Sent down for concurrence,
Sami Hoolbrook, Dep. Sec.
In the Ho. of Representatives, Dec. 30, 1749.
Read & concurred, J. Dwight, Spk«\
Consented to, S. Phipps."
The record closes with this addendum:
" The original, of which the above is a true copy, I posted on the foreside of the meet-
ing house above said, on the 26th day of May above said.
Attest, Timothy Dwight."
It was a motley assemblage of aboriginal candidates for civilization who
were to receive their first lesson in individual possession of real estate.
Mr. Dwight was elected moderator, and Timothy Woodbridge, the mission
schoolmaster, clerk. The preparation of the list of claimants and the proc-
ess of allotment occupied two days. It was ascertained that sixty tawny
presentors were entitled to ownership in severalty, of whom four were of
other tribes, and one a negro who had married a squaw of the Housaton-
ics, and, by virtue of the conditions of the grant, was permitted to receive
and hold, but not to alienate, his allotment. Thirteen of the sixty, with
Captain Konkapot at their head, had priorily, as " settlers and proprietors,"
assumed control of 1670 acres in varying portions of their own selection,
probably as having been residents within the boundaries of the new town-
ship, while the others were gathered in from their two other centres at
Great Barrington and Sheffield. It was, however, amicably agreed that
these 1670 acres should be equally divided between them, and any short-
age in actual due made up from the undivided lands. Of the sixty, ten re-
ceived eighty acres ; ten sixty ; thirty-nine fifty ; and one ten acres.
Their names (of which thirty-four have an English or Dutch prenomen),
expressed in from three to six uncouth syllables, are duly recorded with
the accompanying allotments in painful fidelity by the clerk, whose time
and patience must have been sorely tested by the task. I observe, how-
144 INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
ever, that he is not always uniform in his orthography : since the same
name, when repeated elsewhere, betrays a desire to get at a result by the
phonetic method, as being the briefest road, and beyond danger of legal cen-
sure in a point on which the owner himself of the appellative could give
him no reliable information. Some of these embryo citizens are to be rec-
ognized on the records of the town with their white brethren in the capac-
ity of selectmen, assessors, constables, fence-viewers, etc. ; two, at least, are
deacons in the church, and several bearing military titles during service in
the French and Indian and the Revolutionary wars. I find no mention of
Lieutenant Umpachene (except once, as owner of an adjacent lot), who
was the second man of the tribe when the mission was established, although
it is certain that he lived many years afterwards. But Captain Konkapot,
Deacon Pauguaunaupeet, Benj. Kaukeenaunauwaut (Anglice " King Ben"),
who lived 104 years, and Johannes Metoxin of the sturdy lungs, who blew
the great conch-shell to call to church for twenty shillings per annum —
these all bore off their award of eighty acres, with dignity thrown in, on
that famous day.
The six English families who had been invited to come and settle
among them six years before, as pattern farmers and housekeepers, were
already in possession of their respective endowments, comprising a sixtieth
part of the new township each. Most, if not all of them, occupied the
ridge lying directly north of the present village, which they evidently
designed should be the commercial and social centre of the town. Only
one of the dwellings they erected there (the second and last house of the
missionary Sergeant, built, probably, in 1747) is still standing.
At their first meeting the proprietors voted that they " would make a
division of but one-half of their undivided lands at present, that they
might be able with convenience to admit Indians of other tribes to live
among them and make grants to them for improvements, so long as said
Indians, or their descendants, shall dwell in the town and do common
duties with others."
The Commissioner next proceeded to lay off the lots along what is
now the main street of the village, with the design — so saith the record —
of describing " what each person is in possession of, and thereby laying a
foundation for quiet possession hereafter, rather than attempt any new
division, according to their right as proprietors in the township."
Whatever this may have meant, the next transaction was the laying off
of a plat of ground twenty-six rods square, including the site of the meet-
ing-house, as a public common and training-field. A portion of it was also
assigned as a cemetery for whites and red men ; the latter having pre-
INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS I45
viously buried their dead in the shoulder of a low bluff which breaks down
toward the Housatonic just in the rear of the present residence of Colonel
Dwight. A unique monument, built a few years since by the Laurel Hill
Association,- occupies the centre of the spot. This square was the initial
point from which diverged the main street and the highways, in three
directions. The former ran almost due east and nearly level for one mile,
to Mill Brook, where now stands the saw mill of Mr. S. W. Comstock. It
was laid 6^ rods wide for about two-thirds of the distance, and contracted
to \y2 for the remainder. The house lots along this street varied in
frontage from 6 to 22 rods on the north side, and still more on the other.
From the old field-book, with a tape-line, the present villagers of Stock-
bridge can ascertain, though they may not be able to pronounce, the names
of the original owners of their properties. The writer had the curiosity
to do so, and finding that his house lot was assigned "to Capt. Konkapot
and his son Robert," improved the suggestion and dubbed his residence
"The Wigwam," which, although neither pretentious nor classical, has, at
least, the merit of being specific and historical. These north-side village
lots ran as far northward as to meet the south line of the English holdings
on the hill.
And now, all the preliminaries of civil life having been finished, the novi-
tiates settled down to its practice. It is known that the influences of their
church, their school, their model farmers and housekeepers, and the social
habits and examples of their white co-occupants, all operated to set them,
in civil status, quite in advance of any of the aboriginal tribes of our coun-
try before or since, with the exception of the Cherokees, Choctaws, and
Creeks of the present time. As has been already mentioned, they were
represented among the town and church officials, bore military titles, were
enrolled among the alumni of Harvard and Dartmouth, and one of them
wrote an extended and creditable history of his people. I have found, on
several old deeds of lands sold to the whites, excellent specimens of In-
dian penmanship — some of them the signatures of squaws — and as frequent
as those made by mark.
The Proprietors' Record Book shows that regular annual and many
special meetings were held henceforward, the last occurring in May, 1 781,
although surveys of lands sold or otherwise alienated are recorded to 1790.
Until his decease, in 1774, the venerable Timothy Woodbridge continued
both Moderator and Clerk at all these gatherings. His own minutes prove
that his services were not unrequited, and probably few items which his
duty obliged him to mention gave him greater satisfaction than those
which, every now and then, registered a grant of " 50 acres of undivided
Vol. XVIII. -No. 2.— 10
I46 INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
lands" for his benefit. His twenty-four years' official work must have
made him a large holder of real estate. It may be that he, in common
with other managers, while looking carefully with one eye after the inter-
ests of his tawny clients, kept the other fully as widely open to his own.
A natural query may here be started : Why did this state of things
continue less than forty years ? Why did the grantees leave the scene of
their adopted civilization and promising progress, and lapse so far into
insignificance as that probably many of the present occupants of their
allotments ^before mentioned) may never have even heard of them ?
These questions find a ready solution from the time-stained pages of the
Proprietors' Record Book, and in the century's experience since of our
dealing with other red men within our borders.
Let us then go to the records.
At the meeting of May, 1776, it was thus voted: " Granted to Wm.
Goodrich " (a white hotel-keeper, and a captain of minute-men in the Rev-
olution) " in consideration of his having his ox killed, fifty acres of land."
And again: "Voted one hundred acres ... to Daniel Rowley, of
Richmond, in consideration of his paying ^37 for Jacob Unkamug, to
liberate said Unkamug from prison."
Another: "Voted, that T. Woodbridge, Esq., make sale for the pay-
ment of the just debts of the Indian proprietors who have not ability
otherwise to discharge their debts, all that tract of land lying," etc., etc.
Again: "Voted & granted to Elias & Benj. Willard one hundred acres of
land, in consideration of their discharging ^50, N. York currency, debts
due to them from sundry Indn proprietors." At the same time fifty acres
were granted to Stephen Nash . . "to encourage him to set up his
blacksmith's trade in the town of Stockbridge." In 1767 it was " Voted
that one hundred acres of land belonging to the Indn proprietors of Stockge
be sold for the payment of a debt of ,£40, due to one Moses Parsons, of
Windsor."
A little of the nepotism so common in modern times looks out of one
item in 1769, as follows: "Voted to Timy Woodbridge, son of Tim7
Woodbridge, Jr., fifty acres of land, to be laid out in the town where the
said child's friends shall choose." Another item : " Voted, that two fifty-
acre lots on Maple Hill, and also twenty acres adjoining the same, be sold
for the payment of the proprietors' debts." At the next two meetings
fifty acres more were ordered sold for the same purpose. Another vote
authorizes fifty-six acres more sold for the same object.
Medical services rendered the Indians were paid in the same manner,
as per the following: "Voted — That Timy Woodbridge pay to Dr. Ser-
INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS 147
geant for doctoring the Indians about £g lawful money — to be paid out
of the Indians' money for lands sold."
Here is a minute of another sort : " Voted and granted to Joseph
Woodbridge and Zenas Parsons one hundred and fifty acres of land in
consideration of £71 : 16 lawful money, which said Joseph and Zenas
advanced and expended for said Indian proprietors in their endeavoring to
recover the lands belonging to them for their service in the Government
as soldiers."
In 1769 forty acres were sold to cancel an Indian debt, and to defray
their part of the expense of fencing the burying-ground. At the same
meeting Captain Daniel Nimham, owing a " large sum of money, which he
cannot pay save by the sale of his original grant," is given liberty to do
so. It was also " voted, that whereas George Mineturn having been long
sick & thereby in debt, & still unable to do any business for a livelihood,
that he have liberty to make sale of the fifty acre lot which the proprietors
granted him for to pay his debts & support him under his difficulties."
The surveyors of the lands ordered sold also seem to have received re-
markably good compensation in kind. In 1770, fifty acres of Indian land
were sold to aid in building a bridge across the Housatonic. One of the
articles in the warrant for the annual meeting of 1771 read thus — " To see
if the said proprietors will order and grant some of their common lands to
be sold for the payment of several Indian debts, who have judgments of
courts and executions issued against them, and must unavoidably be com-
mitted to jail except relieved by the proprietors."
The sequel of this was the sale of a very large tract of mountain wood-
land to Colonel Williams and Deacon Brown, the former of whom was the
founder of the West Stockbridge Iron Works. In 1780, it was voted to
sell all the remaining undivided lands in the south part of the town for
the payment of the public debts.
It seems occasionally to have occurred to these new wards of civili-
zation that the skins of those with whom they were dealing might be
whiter than some of their transactions ; that the general management of
their affairs was somewhat inexplicably one-sided ; in short, that if there
were no overt trickery on the part of their English neighbors, there
was a considerable economy of intelligible honesty. A vote passed at the
annual meeting of 1770 is suggestive. Thus it runs: " Voted that the
Surveyor shall ascertain ye quantity of lots laid out by the English, which
have been sold by the Indians, in order to know whether such lots do not
exceed the quantity so sold, and that said surveyor and chairman shall be
under oath for the faithful discharge of said service."
r48 INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS
The above are specimens of some sixty votes on the subject of Indian
land sales, more or less comprehensive, during about thirty years, for
various reasons denoted. As only the whites had the wherewithal for pur-
chase and payment, it may be seen how, gradually, but surely, the little
Indian commonwealth was swallowed and absorbed by the astute intruders.
Toward the close of the residence of the tribe in Stockbridge they seemed
to have awakened to the fact that the superior intelligence and greed of
their neighbors were too much for them, and were surely leading them to
pauperism and utter extinction. When, therefore, the friendly offer of
the Oneidas of Central New York was tendered, of a share of their own
reservation, it presented the alternative of tribal death or of final removal
from their straitened locality, even though containing the burial-place of
their fathers. Their experience had proved that " knowledge is power,"
and that power is not unselfish. The simple fact seems to have been that,
even without attributing deliberate intention of fraud in the premises, the
natural and inevitable result of the contact of simplicity with shrewdness,
of ignorance with intelligence, of indolence with industry, of barbarism
with civilization, happened in this case, as, methinks, it will ever happen
— the weaker party must go to the wall. In the vegetable kingdom it is
the invariable law, that the stronger growth will crowd out and replace
the weaker ; and the same law prevails in the world of mankind. Given
the juxtaposition, or rather the commingling, of an enterprising, intelligent,
and progressive, with a simple, untutored, and indolent people, and neither
philosophy nor metaphysics need be tasked to foretell the outcome.
As tending to clinch comment on the severalty experiment, its repeti-
tion with the same people, some forty-five or fifty years ago, may here be
noted. After their last removal to Shawanoe County, Wisconsin, where
they now are, a fine tract of timber on their reservation attracted the
notice of some white speculators who were eager to gain possession. Un-
able to obtain a vote of the tribe, as a body, to that end, they craftily
persuaded their proposed victims that land-ownership in severalty would
place them in a more independent status, and be a long step toward full
citizenship. Against strong opposition by the elders of the tribe, who
foresaw the results, they brought over many of the younger men, and col-
luding with the representatives of the congressional district, prepared a
bill, engineered it through Congress, and then, with the usual machinery
of agents and commissioners, made an allotment of the lands. Next, with
the shining coin in hand, they obtained their timber and left their dupes to
encounter the results. These were, that a large portion of the tribe,
mostly the young and inexperienced, who had been bought out, found
INDIAN LAND GRANTS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS I49
their presence unwelcome, and, having squandered the proceeds of their
allotments, were told to shift for themselves, and relieve the protestants of
their support. This they did by becoming scattered, and merged with
the wilder natives of the neighborhood. Thus the united and prosperous
little community was reduced by more than one-third of its numbers. As
soon as the mischievous tendency of the enactment was realized, through
the intervention of their preachers and leaders, aided by a few philan-
thropic Congressmen of the present Dawes pattern, it was prepared, and
matters placed in statu quo, except the effects of the measure, which were
irremediable.
As mentioned in our prefatory remarks, our story has close relations
with questions concerning our western Indians, now agitating the country.
To my own mind one thing is certain — that to render any experiment of
land-owning in severalty effective of solid and permanent good to the
Indian, absolute prohibition of white residence among them, save for educa-
tional purposes, should be enacted and enforced. I understand Mr. Dawes'
bill on the subject,* now pending congressional action, forbids alienations
of ownership for twenty-five years ; inferring, doubtless, that a quarter of a
century will suffice to render the recipients competent, with proper appli-
ances in aid, to manage their own affairs independently of white influence.
This may suffice to save the Indians from extinction, and it may not.
Certainly the time specified is brief enough for the demonstration of a
great moral problem, on whose results we may speculate, but which are
knowable only to Him " who controls events and governs futurity."
&UM-
^r^y
Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
* Since become a law.
A LOVE ROMANCE IN HISTORY
Fiction has its peculiar charm for the summer reader. It occupies a
certain vein of indolent thought, and is an antidote for the depressing
influences of heat and weariness. But there are truths in history,
invested with romance, that are far more captivating than any story
evolved from the inner consciousness of practiced writers.
In the year 1797, two members of one prominent New York family —
a sister and a brother — were married. The first of these weddings was a
great social event, bringing together all that was distinguished in the world
of politics, religion, law, science, and letters. It occurred on the 6th of
June. The bride was Miss Eliza Susan Morton; the bridegroom was the
celebrated Josiah Quincy, of Boston. They were young, popular, rich,
fair, and talented. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Samuel Stanhope
Smith, President of Princeton College, who made the long overland jour-
ney to New York (in term time) for the special purpose, Miss Morton hav-
ing been much in his family, and greatly beloved by every one. She was
also a favorite in the family of Judge Theodore Sedgwick, usually spend-
ing some months each summer with them, in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
The festivities, blessings, and partings over, the bridal pair departed in an
elegant coach drawn by four fine horses, and, after a tour of five days
through Connecticut and Massachusetts, reached their Boston home.
The second wedding was far more romantic and much less imposing.
It was that of Washington Morton, the younger brother of Mrs. Quincy,
in October of the same year. His bride was the beautiful Cornelia Schuy-
ler, daughter of General Philip Schuyler of Albany, and sister of Mrs.
Alexander Hamilton. Few gentlemen were better known in the New
York of that period than General Jacob Morton and his brother, Wash-
ington Morton. They were both lawyers, with an honorable place at the
New York bar in the most brilliant period of its history. Jacob Morton
was fourteen years older than Washington, and for upwards of thirty
years was major-general of the First Division of the militia of the State.
During the war of 18 12 he was mustered into the service of the United
States, and appointed military commander of New York city. He held
municipal offices of trust, also, for a long series of years, until he became
almost as familiar to the eyes of New York as the City Hall itself; and
so strong was his hold upon the popular regard that no change in politics
A LOVE ROMANCE IN HISTORY 151
ever disturbed his position. He was a perfect gentleman of the old
school ; there are persons living who remember his fine presence, military
bearing, erect carriage, alert air, and cordial manners — with powdered hair
and faultlessly elegant costume. Washington Morton was a strikingly
handsome young man of twenty-two at the time of his marriage, a gradu-
ate of Princeton in 1792, of rare fascination and tact in conversation,
superb physical strength, and great athletic skill. But up to this date
much more of his time had been given to the pleasures of life than to its
affairs. He, on one occasion, walked to Philadelphia from New York for
a wager, which created no little talk and excitement, it being then an
unprecedented feat. " His walk finished, his wager won, after a refreshing
bath and toilet, he spent the night with his friends who had accompanied
him on horseback, and a party of Philadelphia choice spirits, over a sup-
per-table spread in his honor, at which we may well believe that the con-
viviality was answerable to the greatness of the occasion."
At the attractive home of Alexander Hamilton young Morton was a
favorite guest. Mrs. Hamilton's younger sister, Cornelia, came to spend
the winter of 1 796-1797, and Washington Morton fell madly in love with
her. She was a charming girl, though by no means a belle. She had dark
brown hair, which she wore parted in waves over a low white forehead ;
eyes of deep blue-gray, so shaded and shadowed by lashes that they
seemed black in the imperfect light ; complexion of that clear paleness
which better interprets the varying phases of feeling than a more brilliant
color, and a small, rosy mouth with all manner of little lights playing
about it, and a slight compression of the lips, betokening strength of will.
Her beauty was really of that soft and touching kind which wins gradually
upon the heart rather than the senses. Her nature, too pliant and cling-
ing for the role of social leadership, which so well became Mrs. Hamilton,
had yet a firmness that promised full development through her affections.
She was one of the wedding guests when the sister of her lover was mar-
ried in June, and was radiant on that memorable occasion. The attach-
ment of the handsome young pair was well known to the Morton family ;
and ere long Miss Cornelia returned to her home in Albany, attended by
Washington Morton, who sought an immediate interview with General
Schuyler, asking the hand of his daughter in marriage.
Alas ! the course of true love was not destined, in this instance, to run
smoothly. The sagacious old chieftain was in no hurry to consign his
sweet young daughter to the care of a volatile, headstrong youth of
twenty-two, however brilliant his prospects and possibilities. He refused
to consider the question until the ambitious aspirant should have " slack-
152 A LOVE ROMANCE IN HISTORY
ened his pace to the sober rate befitting a steady-going married man."
Young Morton urgently pressed his suit, which angered General Schuyler,
who imperiously ordered the ardent lover to attempt no further communi-
cation with his daughter. He even went so far as to escort the young
man to a boat for New York, and saw him safely on his voyage down the
Hudson.
"Come into the library," said the austere father to the blushing Cor-
nelia, as he encountered her on the veranda upon his return to the
house. When she had seated herself at his feet, in an attitude of deep
dejection, he related what had passed between himself and Washington
Morton, adding, " My wishes will, of course, be respected. Promise me to
have nothing hereafter to do with him, either by word or letter." " I can-
not, sir," was the quick response. " What ! do you mean to disobey me ? "
" I mean that I cannot bind myself by any such pledge as you name,
and — I will not."
To chronicle the scene that followed would not be an easy task. Gen-
eral Schuyler, whose word was law in his family, nearly lost his breath.
He was amazed beyond expression, and took measures to compel the
obedience so unexpectedly withheld by his hitherto amiable and dutiful
daughter. Washington Morton, however, was not a man to be turned
from his purpose by any such obstacle. He soon found a method whereby
to smuggle a letter into the hands of the young lady, in which all a lover's
fond hopes and blissful anticipations were depicted in glowing colors. He
also gave her the plan of his future course of action, and asked for her co-
operation, which was not denied.
Days and weeks passed on. The foliage was beginning to assume its
autumn styles ; and the cool days of October were being welcomed with cor-
dial fires in the old Schuyler mansion. One night, when the stars were shin-
ing peacefully from a cloudless sky, the lover came for his bride. The hour
was midnight. The lights had long since been extinguished in the Albany
homes, and deep silence throughout the ancient city was unbroken by voice
or footstep. Presently two figures wrapped in cloaks were moving swiftly
along the deserted streets. One was of princely bearing, the other lithe
and graceful. In front of the Schuyler house they paused, sprang lightly
over the fence upon the velvety turf of the yard, and gave a signal. A
window was gently and slowly raised ; one of the gentlemen threw up a
rope which was caught and tied ; a rope ladder was drawn up, and after a
few minutes again lowered ; the gentlemen pulled forcibly to ascertain that
it was securely fastened, and Cornelia Schuyler stepped out upon the
ladder and slowly accomplished her descent in safety. A rapid walk fol-
A LOVE ROMANCE IN HISTORY 1 53
lowed, and in a few moments the party reached the shores of the Hudson,
where a small row-boat was in waiting to convey them to the opposite
shore. As they landed a pair of fine horses were to be seen pawing the
earth impatiently. The young lady was lifted upon one of these, and her
gallant cavalier mounted the other. They bade a hasty adieu to the friends
who had assisted in the escapade, and rode off gayly toward the rising sun.
Between thirty and forty miles distant was the town of Stockbridge, and
straightway to the home of Judge Theodore Sedgwick the runaways pro-
ceeded, as he was the common and intimate friend of both families. Pre-
senting themselves before that excellent magistrate, who doubted the evi-
dence of his own eyes when he beheld the singular apparition, they told
the story of their engagement and their flight. Of course there was but
one thing to do. The clergyman of the place was summoned to the Sedg-
wick homestead, and the handsome twain were made one with all con-
venient dispatch. It was a sad blow to General Schuyler, and many
months elapsed before he consented to indulge in a forgiving spirit ; but he
loved his daughter, and had in reality no very grave objections to her
dashing husband further than his youth — which, with time enough, might
be cured— and in the end he yielded to what he could not help, with the
best grace that he could muster.
LAFAYETTE'S VISIT TO MISSOURI
The year 1S25 was fraught with many events which will always be
among the most interesting in the history of Missouri, then a rather
youthful but prosperous member of the galaxy of states composing our
Union.
On the 29th of April of that year, St. Louis entertained that distin-
guished patron of Liberty and friend to our Republic, Marquis de Lafay-
ette, known best to Americans by the more democratic title of " General,"
who was accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, named
for one whom the Marquis, in common with all true lovers of freedom,
regarded as the most noble of men. This last visit of Lafayette to the
United States was made after an absence of forty years, on an invitation
from President Monroe, and when the distinguished French patriot was in
his sixty-eighth year. He came to revisit the friends and comrades with
whom he had been associated during our Revolutionary struggle, and again
to look upon the scenes of his youthful exploits in behalf of American
independence. He was the beloved guest of a proud and prosperous
nation, and his journeys from state to state and city to city were tri-
umphal ovations. Colonel Thomas H. Benton said of this visit: " To the
survivors of the Revolution it was the return of a brother; to the new gen-
eration, born since that time, it was an apparition of an historical char-
acter familiar from the cradle. He visited every state in the Union, as
the friend and pupil of Washington. He had spilt his blood and lavished
his fortune for their independence. Many were the happy meetings he
had with old comrades, survivors for near half a century of those early
hardships and dangers. Three of his old associates, Adams, Jefferson, and
Madison, he found ex-Presidents, enjoying the respect and affection of
their country, after having reached its highest honors. Another, and the
last one that time would admit to the Presidency, Mr. Monroe, was now in
the Presidential chair, and inviting him to revisit the land of his adoption.
Many of his early associates were seen in the two Houses of Congress,
many in state governments, and many more in the walks of private life,
patriarchal sires, respected for their characters and venerated for their patri-
otic services."
Lafayette came to St. Louis, Missouri, from where he was visiting in
New Orleans, in response to an invitation from the citizens of St. Louis.
LAFAYETTE S VISIT TO MISSOURI
*55
He made the journey up the Mississippi on one of the fine steamers of
that period, reaching Carondelet on the evening of April 28, 1825, where
he remained for the night, while the news of his arrival was carried to St.
Louis. On. the following morning he and his party again boarded their
steamer, which had been literally covered with flags and gay streamers by
the people of Carondelet, thus striving to show their admiration for their
honored visitor, and were borne to the foot of Market, then the principal
street of St. Louis, where they landed, and were received by Dr. William
Carr Lane, the accomplished mayor of the city, who was accompanied by
Colonel Stephen Hempstead (the father of the late Honorable Edward
Hempstead), an officer of the Revolution, and by Colonel Auguste Cho-
teau, an early companion of Laclede, and Captains Gamble and Hill, who
commanded the two military companies of St. Louis at that time, that
had been called out to act as escort to the distinguished visitor. More
than half the population of the city, then somewhat over five thousand,
were assembled along the wharf and streets, and eagerly voiced the high
esteem in which they held this noble volunteer who had aided in estab-
lishing their freedom, by enthusiastic cheers and demonstrations, while the
bands of the military and those on the steamers at the wharf quickened
the pulses of all present with sweet strains of martial music. Many of
the people present felt the more pride in the occasion because they were
natives of the same country as Lafayette, and had become citizens of
America by adoption, and of their own volition.
The General and his son, accompanied by Dr. Lane and Colonel
Hempstead, entered an open barouche, and, followed by carriages convey-
ing other visitors and members of the reception committee, proceeded
with their escort up Market to Main Street, and along Main to the corner
of Locust Street, where they found the elegant chateau of M. Pierre Cho-
teau * thrown open to receive them. This beautiful home was fashioned
after those of the proprietor's native country, and was surrounded by
broad porticos, affording genial promenades and protection from sun and
storm. The chateau grounds were inclosed by a strong stone Avail, at the
northeast angle of which was a handsome watch-tower, adding greatly to
the embellishment of the place as well as to its security ; within the in-
closure were extensive and tastefully cultivated fruit and flower gardens,
and a spacious court-yard. In this courtly mansion, or rather castle, the
party spent some time, enjoying the hospitalities of the generous owner.
* This family is still among the most aristocratic and highly respected of St. Louis ; still re-
taining much of the valuable property acquired by their ancestor, M. Pierre, at the early date of
his settlement in Missouri.
156 LAFAYETTE'S VISIT TO MISSOURI
Taking leave of M. Choteau and his family, the visitors and their escort
proceeded to the Mansion House, then the leading public-house of the city,
situated on the northeast corner of Third and Market Streets, where they
attended a magnificent banquet and ball, at which the beauty and chivalry
of the " Old French City " did their utmost to contribute to the pleasure
of their guest and his party. Later in the evening Lafayette and his son
visited Missouri Lodge No. 1 of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons, to
which order they both belonged, where they were received by about sixty
brethren and welcomed by the late Archibald Gamble, and were both
elected honorary members of that Lodge.
This Lodge is still in existence, and distinguished as being the oldest
and strongest lodge in Missouri.
The following morning the General was escorted to his boat by a large
concourse of citizens, who demonstrated their regard for him and their
appreciation of his visit by wild bursts of enthusiasm, continuing to send
up cheer after cheer as the boat left the shore to bear its distinguished
passenger on his journey to Kaskaskia.
From Kaskaskia General Lafayette proceeded to Washington ; and
Congress, then in session, placed at his disposal the frigate Brandywine,
an elegant new vessel, to bear him back to his home in France. Circum-
stances made this a pleasing compliment to him, as the vessel had been
named in honor of the river on whose banks he fought his first battle,
September n, 1777, and was wounded in the cause of liberty.
Dr. William Carr Lane, who was mayor of St. Louis at the time of
Lafayette's visit, was a gentleman of rare gifts and accomplishments, and
a most indefatigable worker in any enterprise he undertook, and to him,
and his four or five administrations as chief officer of the city, does St.
Louis owe much of her high commercial and social position of to-day ;
and Missouri is also in a great measure indebted to his wisdom for her
early development, and enviable rank among her sister States.
Kingston, Missouri.
MINOR TOPICS
THE VALUE OF HISTORICAL STUDY
Rev. Dr. R. S. Storrs, in his recent brilliant address at Amherst College, said :
The mind is always expanded and liberalized by what puts distant lands and
times, with the exacting and disciplinary experiences of one's own ancestors or of
other peoples, distinctly before it. To a certain extent foreign travel does this, as
it sets the immeasurably wider expanses, filled with energetic and laborious life, in
contrast with the narrower scenes with which one before had been familiar. But
history, when carefully studied — studied as it should be, with maps, topographic
plans, careful itineraries, photographs of monuments or of sights — does the same
thing for the home-keeping student, and does it in some important respects in a
yet freer and bolder fashion. The centuries of the past present themselves in per-
spective. We see the vast cosmical movements from which States have been born,
in which subsequent civilizations took rise and in which the devout mind discovers
the silent procedures of Providence. We learn how far removed from us were initial
influences that are now only flowering into results, and how our life is affected at
this hour by political combinations and military collisions which preceded by ages
the invasion of England by the Normans or the splendid schemes of Charle-
magne. It is quite impossible that one who reads with comprehensive attention
till this immense and vital picture is in a measure opened before him should not
be consciously broadened in thought, expanded even in mental power ; that he
should not freshly and deeply feel how limited is his individual sphere ; how local,
although so multiplied by endowments from the past, are his personal opportunities;
what avast scheme it is which is being evolved through stir of discussion, rush of
emigration, competitions of industry, crash of conflict, by the Power which gives
its unity to history and which is perpetually educing great harmonies out of what-
ever seeming discords.
Not merely a general expansion of thought, and, one may say, of the compass
of the mind comes with this outreaching study of history. It trains directly, with
vigorous force, in fine proportion, each chief intellectual faculty. I am satisfied
that in either of the professions, in journalism, in educational work, or in the simply
private life of an educated citizen, the effect will appear ; that one accustomed to
wide and searching historical inquiries will be more expert in judging even of prac-
tical questions presented to-day and will have a more discerning apprehension of
the forces working to modify legislation and mold society — forces which are often
more formidable or more replete with victorious energy, because subtle and occult.
158 MINOR TOPICS
We may wait years, or we may journey thousands of miles, to meet in the pres-
ent the special spirit whose office it is, and whose sovereign prerogative, to kindle
and ennoble ours. It is but to step to the library shelf, to come face to face with
such in the past, if we know where to find them. Nay, it is but to let the thought
go backward, over what has become distinct in our minds, and the silent company
is around us ; the communion of rejoicing and consecrated souls, the illustrious
fellowships, in the presence of whom our meanness is rebuked, our cowardice is
shamed, and we become the freer children of God and of the truth. Not only the
romance of the world is in history, but influences so high in source and in force as
to be even sacred descend through it. Benedictory, sacramental is its touch upon
responsive souls. We become comparatively careless of circumstances ; aware of
kinship, in whatsoever heroic element may be in us, with the choice transcendent
spirits ; regardless of the criticism, or snarling scoffs, which may here surround us,
if only conscious of deeper and of more generous correspondence with those whose
elate and unsubduable temper remains among the treasures of mankind.
I think that to our times, especially, the careful and large study of history is
among the most essential sources of moral inspiration. The cultivation of it, in
ever larger and richer measure, is one of the best and noblest exercises proposed
to young minds. The importance of individual life and effort is magnified by it,
instead of being diminished or disguised, as men sometimes fancy ; since one is
continually reminded afresh of the power which belongs to those spiritual forces
which all may assist, in animating and molding civilization. Of course, an im-
perfect study of history, however rapid and rudimental, shows how often the in-
dividual decision and the restraining or inspiring action of great personalities have
furnished the pivots on which the multitudinous consequences have turned ; how,
even after long intervals of time, the effects of such have made themselves evident,
in changed conditions and tendencies of peoples ; and so it reminds us, with in-
cessant iteration, of the vital interlocking of every energetic personal life with the
series of lives which unconsciously depend upon it, of the reach of its influence
upon the great complex of historical progress, and of the service which each cap-
able or eminent spirit may render to the cause of universal culture and peace. But
those to whom our thoughts are thus turned have been for the most part signal
men in their times, remarkable in power, distinguished in opportunity, intuitively
discerning the needs of the age, and with peculiar competence to meet them.
History is a department of study leaving, in my judgment, as distinct and
salutary religious impressions as does any form of secular knowledge opened to
man. Ours is a historical religion, coming to us through historical books, exhibit-
ing its energy, through two thousand years, in the recorded advancement of man-
kind, which can be studied almost as distinctly in the moral and social progress of
peoples under its inspiration, as in the writings of narrative and epistle, which
open to our view the source and the guidance of that progress. Divine purpose in
all history becomes gradually apparent to him who, with attentive thought, surveys
MINOR TOPICS
159
its annals. The Bible proceeds upon the assumption of such a plan, though per-
haps no one of its separated writers had a full conception of that which he was in
part portraying. Back, beyond the beginnings of history, onward to the secure
consummation, lovely and immortal, which prophecies prefigure, extends this plan.
Parts of it are yet inscrutable to us, as parts of the heavens are still unsounded by
any instrument. But the conviction becomes constantly clearer, among those to
whom the records of the past unfold in a measure not contents only, but glowing
portents, that a divine mind has presided over all ; that every remotest people or
tribe has had its part to do or to bear in the general progress ; and that at last,
when all is interpreted, the unity of the race, with the incessant interaction of its
parts, under the control and in the concord of a divine scheme, will come dis-
tinctly into view. Mysterious movements as of the peoples who from woods and
untamed wastes inundated Europe, and before whose irresistible momentum
bastions and ramparts, the armies and ensigns of the Mistress of the World went
hopelessly down, will be seen to have had their impulse and direction as well as
their end. Great passive empires, as of China, will be found to have served some
sovereign purpose ; and the mind which sees the end from the beginning will be
evidenced in the ultimate human development as truly as it is in the swing of suns,
or in the conformation of unmeasured constellations.
The British Empire a week ago was ringing and flaming with the august and
brilliant ceremonies which marked the completion of fifty years in the reign of one
whose name is with us, almost as generally as in her own realms, a household word.
American hearts joined those of her kinsmen across the sea, around the world, in
giving God thanks for the purity and piety with which the young maiden of fifty years
since has borne herself, amid gladness and grief, overshadowing change and vast
prosperity ; and for the progress of industry and of liberty, of commerce, education,
and Christian faith, by which her times have been distinguished. But something
more than the wisdom of statesmen, or the valor of captains, or the silent or resonant
work of man, has been involved in all this. An unseen Power has been guiding
events to the fulfillment of plans wide as the world, and far more ancient than
Dover Cliffs, or the narrow seas which gleam around them. The ultimate king-
dom of righteousness and peace is nearer for these remarkable years. It was well
to render grateful praise in church and chapel, in cathedral and abbey, in quiet
homes and in great universities, to Him who has given such luster to the fame, and
such success to the reign, of the wise and womanly and queenly Victoria. But
as with her reign so with all that advancing history of mankind in connection with
which this brilliant half-century of feminine supremacy and imperial expansion
reveals its significance. It discloses the silent touch and the sweeping command of
Divine forecasts. It reverberates with echoes to superlative designs. I know of
no other department of study, outside of the Scriptures, more essentially or pro-
foundly religious. A Christian college may well hold it in honoring esteem, and
give it in permanence an eminent place among the studies which it proposes. In
l6o MINOR TOPICS
our recent country, in our times of rapid and tumultuous change, it seems to me
that we specially need this, as the thoughtful among us are specially inclined to it ;
since it is vital to the dignity and self-poise of our national life that we feel our-
selves interknit with the life of the world, from which the ocean does not divide us,
that we recognize our distinctive inheritance in the opulent results of the effort and
the struggle of other generations. It is a bright and encouraging indication of the
best qualities of the American spirit, as well as of the vigor and vivacity of the
American mind and the variety of its attainments, that such studies are eagerly
prosecuted among us, and that those who have given to them, with splendid en-
thusiasm, laborious leivs — like Prescott, Motley, our honored Bancroft — have been
among the most inspiriting of our teachers, have gained and will keep their prin-
cipal places in that Republic of letters from which the Republic of political fame
must always take grace and renown.
HISTORICAL TREASURES
Onondaga County will some day regret the loss of many things which might
now be permanently secured, and this thought arose as we looked over the three
large volumes containing the valuable autograph collections of Henry C. Van
Schaack, Esq., of Manlius, a well-known member of some of our prominent his-
torical societies, who has written much on the period of the Revolution, to which
most of his collection relates. Collating his father's papers half a century since,
he secured many valuable mementoes of that period, to which were added many
documents from the Mohawk Valley and other sources, until the series is almost
unequaled in the country. The arrangement has been a labor of love, each letter
or autograph being securely placed in the volume, and accompanied with explana-
tory notes, a vast amount of printed matter, and many views and portraits. All
the signers of the Declaration of Independence are represented, and Washington's
familiar signature several times appears. John Hancock's sturdy stroke and
Stephen Hopkins' trembling hand attract attention at once. Lafayette's neat
writing is seen in several letters written in English, and Gates and the captive
Burgoyne are both represented. General Greene, the able general who led Corn-
wallis such a chase; Hull, of Detroit notoriety; Harmar, afterward unfortunate
in Indian wars ; Montgomery, who fell in the assault on Quebec ; Warren, of
Bunker Hill fame ; Sullivan, who raided the country of the Cayugas and Senecas ;
Philip Schuyler, to whom Burgoyne's defeat was really due ; Gansevoort and Wil-
lett, the defenders of Fort Stanwix ; Knox, Morgan, Lee, Moultrie, Colonel Wash-
ington, and others have prominent places. Here is seen the small, distinct writing
of Aaron Burr, and of Alexander Hamilton, whom he slew ; and the Livingstons,
Jefferson, the Adams family, the Pinckneys, Bushrod Washington, John Jay,
Arthur Lee, Boudinot, Gouverneur and Robert Morris have many memorials.
MINOR TOPICS l6l
Any one will look with interest on Benedict Arnold's writing, and will attentively
peruse Colonel Brown's denunciation of him " in the camp before Quebec." That
camp is well represented, and there is a curious sentence of a court-martial on
three deserters, who were to sit three hours under a gallows with halters around
their necks,, and then receive thirty lashes each.
An autograph poem by Captain Nathan Hale, the unfortunate spy, will not be
overlooked, and the pleasant correspondence between some of the American lead-
ers and their refugee friends, after the war, is of great interest. Indeed, one of the
execrated Butlers showed great kindness to some of his Mohawk Valley friends
when they were prisoners in Canada ; but little can be said favorably of the cruel
Walter Butler, whose autograph here appears. Sir William, Guy and John John-
son, and Daniel Claesse, are among the prominent signatures on Indian affairs,
among which appears a statement by an Indian chief, with a name too long for
our columns.
Paul Revere's autograph is in the collection, with all the accounts of his
famous ride. In a neat note from James Madison his name appears at the begin-
ning, not at the end : "James Madison desires," etc. There are letters from Gov-
ernor Carleton, of Canada, and from colonial governors, as Colden and Delancey ;
from the first governors of the State of New York, as George Clinton and others,
as well as British officers of the war of the Revolution, and some later celebrities.
Among the miscellaneous matter are manifestoes of committees of safety, bills for
supplies, secret letters, lists of houses destroyed and persons killed or wounded,
public seals, Continental money, autographs of Presidents of Congress and state
officers. One curious legal decision, on the raising of a liberty pole, must be
noticed. It was determined that this was lawful, and as pikes and pitchforks
might be needed in the work, to bring these did not constitute a violent assembly.
One letter was written from Fort Brewerton, at the foot of Oneida Lake, but most
of this valuable collection relates to places farther east. — Rev. W. M. Beauchamp,
in Gazette and Farmers' Journal.
LADY FRANKLIN IN GREECE
Editor of Magazine of American History : — In looking at the portrait of Lady
Franklin, I am reminded of the time when she visited Greece, early in her married
life. The interior of the country was yet in a disturbed condition, and brigands
abounded. She traveled through that country on horseback, a feat accomplished
by only two foreign ladies until 1855, Lady Franklin and Mrs. Mary G. Benjamin,
my mother, both journeys being previous to 1844.
Respectfully yours,
S. G. W. Benjamin
Vol. XVIII.-No. 2.-11
MINOR TOPICS
REV. MARK HOPKINS, LL.D.
The career of the eminent Christian scholar, Rev. Mark Hopkins, LL.D.,
who died on the 17th of June, 1887, is exceptionally interesting. He has long
been recognized as the greatest man who has presided over an American college
within the present century. He was an original, fearless, athletic thinker, and
philosophical writer, a master of the art of expression, either by voice or pen, and
one of the most beloved of teachers. All over the world men in highest positions
speak of him as once their instructor, and as the prince of all teachers. It was
our martyred President, Garfield, who said : " Give me a log cabin in the centre
of the state of Ohio, with one room in it, and a bench with Mark Hopkins on one
end of it and me on the other, that would be a good enough college for me."
The story of President Hopkins's life is largely a history of Williams College, of
which he was president thirty-six years, in addition to nearly two dozen years of
industrious instruction in the institution, exercising great influence. At the recent
meeting of the alumni of Williams, President Carter pictured with graceful humor
the conditions that surround commencement week, and then passed to tender words
of the great dead. The resolutions on Mark Hopkins were as follows :
" The alumni of Williams College, recalling with gratitude the inestimable serv-
ice which they have each and all received from their venerated teacher, Mark
Hopkins, do not attempt at this time to estimate the value of his life work, nor to
measure a man who embodied in himself all that his teaching impressed upon them.
They desire simply to record their love and reverence for one who by his life bore
witness to the highest truth, and by his death bequeathed to the college the inspir-
ing memory of his devotion to knowledge, his greatness of mind and heart, and
his sustained and fruitful activity. Identified with the college as a teacher and
president for more than half a century, Dr. Hopkins greatly advanced its standing,
its usefulness and its power. A patient, fearless, open-minded student, he gave
his instruction the large and fruitful method which is the possession of the great
teachers alone. Holding truth always as that which makes for character, he
charged his teaching with the ethical completeness which is the end of education.
Enforcing knowledge with unbroken appeal to obligation, he identified it to gen-
erations of students v/ith purity of life and with unselfish consecration to
humanity.
The great loss which the college feels so keenly is felt most keenly in the home
where Dr. Hopkins's genial and benignant nature reached its kindliest aspects. To
her who bears his honored name and to the family, so long and so intimately asso-
ciated with the college, the alumni extend their sincerest sympathy.
Gathered in the place which has been consecrated by his life work, the
pupils of Dr. Hopkins resolve to perpetuate his name by a memorial, which shall
be both an enlargement of the power and usefulness of the college, and an endur-
ing witness to his personality. To this end they pledge their personal effort, con-
MINOR TOPICS 163
ceiving that they can honor their great teacher in no more lasting manner than by
broadening the foundations of the college to which he gave his noble life."
The Boston Association of Alumni of Williams College entered the following
minute upon their records :
" The death of Mark Hopkins, theologian, philosopher, teacher, is to every son
of Williams a personal loss. His noble presence has remained clear and distinct
in the memory of students after scenes in their college life have become dim and
forgotten. It has stood to them for an influence strong and vital. He taught
them to think, and by his devotion to noble aims, as well as by his counsels and
prayers, he taught them to live. He was a city set on a hill, that could not be nid,
and while he has been for half a century a great figure in American thought, he
has been in all that time the inspiration and the friend of multitudes who now rise
and call him blessed. His students honor his memory ; they mourn with
his family, and they renew their devotion to the college which he, a master of
workmen, hewed out of the mountains of New England."
RECENT WORDS OF WISDOM
Men act according to their sentiments. Not what he knows, but what he
feels, is a man's real motive power. The powder does not furnish itself with the
spark for its own explosion, and human thoughts, all knowledge, all science, though
having the vastest capability, do not, cannot move men till kindled by some fire of
feeling, which they themselves are utterly unable to evoke. — President Seelye, at
Amherst.
The scholar in politics is the man quite as useful as the man who reads only
partisan papers and believes that honesty and integrity are merely theoretic. —
George William Curtis, at Amherst.
It is certainly a critical period in the experience of the world, and specially of
our own nation, at which the young men of these passing years are entering upon
their life's work. In material things our people are moving, as if in an hour, out
of the limitations and moderation of the past into all the resources and wealth of
the most luxurious nations. — President Dwight, at Yale.
Great writers and orators are commonly economists in the use of words.
They compel common words to bear a burden of thought and emotion which
mere rhetoricians, with all the language at their disposal, would never dream of
imposing upon them. It is said that Jeremiah Mason cured Daniel Webster of the
florid foolery of his early rhetorical style. Mason relentlessly pricked all rhetori-
cal bubbles, reducing them at once to the small amount of ignominious suds which
the orator's breath had converted into colored globes having some appearance of
stability as well as splendor. — Edwin Percy Whipple.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Two General orders relati?ig to those of the German troops of the Saratoga Convention
stationed at Winchester, Virginia.
[From the manuscript collection of William L. Stone.]
('G. O. Winchester, 11th April, 1781.
The Parole of the German officers is to be in future Ten Miles in circumfer-
ence around the Borough of Winchester.
(Signed) F. Wood, Col. Com"
" Gen. Order, 12th April, 1781.
The Brunswick Troops will be removed by Detachments as fast as the Huts
can be procured for them. The Hesse-Hanau Regiment will have only their pro-
portion of those already built. Col. Holme will please to direct the manner of
building the Huts, & will stimulate the Troops, already in the Barracks, to build
for themselves as soon as possible, as they must give up those they occupy at pres-
ent to the Brunswick Troops in a few days. The Troops at the Barracks are lim-
ited to one mile in circumference ; & if they are found at any greater distance,
they will be committed to Goal & there closely confined.
(Signed) F. Wood, Col. Com."
Two Letters of Colonel Beverley Robinson, never before published.
[Contributed by William L. Pelletreau.]
[The following letters written by Colonel Robinson to his brother-in-law, Frederick Philipse,
and to his sister-in-law, Mrs. Margaret Ogilvie (widow of Philip Philipse, who afterwards married
Rev. John Ogilvie), have been recently found among the Philipse papers. Mortlake, where he re-
sided after his banishment to England, is a village on the Surrey side of the Thames, about eight
miles from London. He afterwards lived at Thornbury, and died there in 1792. — William L.
Pelletreau.]
{First Letter)
Mort Lake May 5 1786
Dr Fredk
I must now trouble you with a memorandum on my own account which I did
not think of time enough to give it you yesterday. It is suspected that the Com-
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 1 65
missioners* mean to regulate their allowances to us by the sales of our Lands under
the Confiscation Laws. If so some of us will have but a very scant pittance indeed,
and I am afraid I shall be worse off than almost any other person if that should be
their guide to value my estate by : but for all the accounts I have ever had concern-
ing the sale of my lands, they were sold, or rather given away, for mere trifles in a
private way. I am informed that the greatest & most valuable part of my lands
particularly those at Fredericksburg, were disposed of during the war, long before
the peace, or any certainty that Independence would be granted to the American:-.
That the sales were not publicly advertised, only a written advertisement put up
by ye Commissioners who sold them, at a country tavern door, a few days before
the sale, for only a farm or two at a time, & at last sold without being put up to
the highest bidder. That several of the tenants who were their friends had their
farms for little or nothing, as a reward for their services, & to make a beginning
of the sales. If that was ye method of selling, there is no wonder that they sold so
low & so much under what they would have been valued at by good judges be-
fore the war. As I suppose no person is better acquainted with the Patent than
Mr. Belden I must beg you will give my best respects to him, and request him to
make an enquiry into these matters as soon as he can : and if he can get proof of
the time and manner of the sales & who were the purchasers, and secondly to get
two or three honest reputable men, who are good Judges of the value of Lands &
are acquainted with mine, to give their opinion on oath what they thought
they were worth before the war, he will do me an essential service & I shall be
much obliged to him. Any expense he may be at I will readily pay. I should be
glad to know if any demand has been made on my tenants for their arrears of rent
due me and for what they owed me on Bond and note.
Wishing you all Happiness
I am Dr Fredk your
affectionate friend &c
Bev. Robinson.
{Second Letter)
Mort Lake April 28 1787.
My Dear Sister
I really am ashamed to acknowledge that this is only the second time I have
wrote to you since I have been in England. I hope you will forgive me for so
great a neglect, and not attribute it to the want of regard and respect for I assure
you my love and friendship for you does not abate in the least, and it gives me
great pleasure whenever I hear of your health and happiness.
* Appointed by British Government to fix compensation to royalists.
1 66 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
As have nothing to say to you on business having before mentioned everything I
knew of or can recollect to be necessary, and also gave Fredk when he left us every
information about ye Highlands material for him to know, I shall therefore only give
you a short account of our family. Morris was married the 13th, of this month to a
Miss Waring, a very agreeable good young lady & of worthy family but a small
fortune. He has taken a house and some land at Llantrossent in Glamorganshire,
one hundred and sixty-seven miles from London which is a trifling distance in this
country being only two moderate days traveling, he has his place very reasonable
it being a very cheap country he hopes by industry & frugality to live very com-
fortably & save a little of his small income and I really believe he will be very
happy.
William is appointed Commissary of Masters in the West Indies for the islands
of Dominica, Antigua, St. Kitts, Munserat and Neviss, the first island is his head-
quarters. He sailed the 17th of last month and left us in high spirits, being much
pleased with his appointment. Phil * is with his Regiment now at Plymouth and as
ye Regiment frequently move their quarters I dont expect we shall see him very
often, he is worse off than any of his brothers having nothing but his pay to sub-
sist on & it not being in my power to assist him he is poor fellow often in great
distress. Beverley and John you know are in New Brunswick where I hope they
will do very well. Bev. and his wife make it a rule to have a son every September,
they now have five sons and all very fine healthy boys. I have not heard from
them since the beginning of Jan. last at which time they were all very well.
My family now consists only of my wife the two girls and myself and I have the
pleasure to tell you we are all very well and all unite in love & best respects to you
with our most ardent wishes for your health and happiness. My wife requests the
favor of you to send her the ages of her brothers and sisters out of the Dutch
Bible. I have received two letters from my old servants in which they express their
love and regard for us. In return I send them the enclosed answers which I beg
you will send to them. I fear old Belinder having no master to provide for her
may be in a suffering situation, I must therefore my dear sister beg ye favor of you
to make some enquiry about her, and if you find she is in distress that you will
supply her with such necessaries as she may want from time to time to prevent her
from suffering and draw upon me for ye cost of them which shall be punctually
paid, tho I was glad to see by an Act of the State that there was a provision made
for all slaves in her situation, I was also glad to hear that all ye young negroes I had
put out in the country were by an Act of the Legislature to be made free, which I
suppose was ye reason why their parents in one of their letters desired to know if
I had sold any of them. I beg you will assure them I never did sell one of them,
nor ever had any intention so to do.t
* Frederick Philipse Robinson.
+ Colonel Robinson was owner in the right of his wife of one-third of Philipse Patent, now Put-
nam County, New York. The various farms on his estate were sold by the Commissioners of
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS \6j
I intended to have wrote a long letter to Fredk but I am told he is expected
over here before this can reach you, which I am very sorry to hear because the
reason of his coming is, that they will not repeal the Act that affects him, but I
shall be glad to see him. My wife & I desire you will give our best respects to
Mrs. Barclay Mrs. Knox, Mrs. Williams and all enquiring friends.
I am dear sister with
great respect & esteem
your ever faithful & afft
Bev. Robinson.
I suppose you have heard of Miss Morris marriage which she is very well to a
very Honble good man with a handsome fortune.* Mrs. Philipse and all her family
are at Chester & very well.
To Mrs. Ogilive New York, North America, by favor of Mrs. White,
Forfeitures by auction, and in most cases to men who had previously held them as tenants. His
oldest son Beverley, lived during the latter part of his life in New York, where his descendants
may yet be found. His tombstone in the southeast corner of St. Paul's church-yard bears the
following: " Sacred to the Memory of the Hon. Beverley Robinson, late of Frederickton, in the
Province of New Brunswick. Born on the 8th of March, 1751, and died on the 6th of October,
1S16."
*The "Miss Morris," was Joanna, daughter of Colonel Roger Morris, wife of Thomas
Cowper Hincks, and niece of Colonel Robinson.
i6S
NOTES
NOTES
Our diplomatic service — In a re-
port made to President Jackson, in 1833,
by Edward Livingston, then Secretary
of State, the whole of which is worth
attentive study, it is said : " Ministers
are considered as favorites, selected to
enjoy the pleasures of foreign travel at
the expense of the people ; their places
as sinecures ; and their residence abroad
as a continued scene of luxurious enjoy-
ment. Their exertions, their embarrass-
ments, their laborious intercourse with
the governments to which they are sent,
their anxious care to avoid anything that
might, on the one hand, give just cause
of offense, or to neglect or to abandon
the rights of their country or its citizens,
on the other, are all unknown at home.
Even the merit of their correspondence,
from which at least the reward of honor
might be derived, is hid in the archives
of the department, and rarely sees the
light ; and, except in the instances of
a successful negotiation for claims, a
minister returns to his country, after
years of the most laborious exertion of
the highest talent, with an injured, if
not a broken fortune, his countrymen
ignorant of his exertions, and under-
valuing them, perhaps, if known. On
the whole, there is scarcely an office of
which the duties, properly performed,
are more arduous, more responsible, and
less fairly appreciated than that of min-
ister to a country with which we
have important commercial relations." —
Schuyler's American Diplomacy.
Rev. roswell dwigiit hitchcock,
d.d. — In the sudden death, on the 17th
of June, 1887, of President Hitchcock,
of Union Theological Seminary, New
York, the American public have sus-
tained an overwhelming loss. This
great Christian educator is universally
recognized as " one of the very ablest
men who ever presided over any theo-
logical institution in this country, and
his scholastic achievements have won
distinguished honors, and commanded
respectful consideration in other lands.
He was an accomplished theologian, an
earnest thinker, a charming companion,
and a most gifted and impressive public
speaker. Whatever the occasion, he was
never found unprepared or uninteresting;
in the fewest words he could hold an
audience, and produce powerful effects.
No matter, says the New York Tribune,
whether the occasion was the introduc-
tion of a distinguished visitor from
abroad to a large audience, or simply
familiar talk with one of his classes,
Dr. Hitchcock always said something
that could be carried away and re-
membered. He would often begin or
close a lecture in church history, that
necessarily consisted mainly of dates or
theological opinions, with a few personal
words of great interest from his own ex-
perience and observation, or give a fore-
cast in regard to the subject under dis-
cussion. In introducing Archdeacon
Farrar to one of the large Chickering
Hall audiences he illustrated his well-
known habit of condensing a column
into a paragraph, as follows :
' I am glad to be your representative
to-night in introducing Archdeacon
Farrar to this metropolis — this commer-
QUERIES
169
cial metropolis — of the United States.
In him we welcome no alien. There is
an old England that stretches from
Northumberland to Cornwall ; there is a
young England that belts the world —
that leads the world in enterprise, in
civilization, in Christianity. Dr. Farrar
was born in the Asiatic division of this
England ; he has been reared in the
European ; but he is not an alien in
American-England. In the second place,
he is no stranger here. The learning and
eloquence of the scholar and preacher
have preceded him across the ocean.
His books are found in our households
and we greet him not as a stranger, but
rather as an old acquaintance.'
In announcing that the seminary would
be closed on the day of Mr. Beecher's
funeral, Dr. Hitchcock said :
' The boy is the father of the man —
that tells the whole story. No man
knew his own limitations better than Mr.
Beecher, but this is not the time to speak
of these. He was a poet without rhythm ;
a philosopher without method ; a theo-
logian without system. Mr. Beecher may
well be called the apostle of the humani-
ties ; in no man has the philanthropic
and reformatory spirit been more promi-
nent. In this he was a bright and a
shining light. The high-water mark of
Mr. Beecher's eloquence was reached
when he faced those hostile, supercilious
English audiences at the time of the
Civil War, and beat them down and
threshed them with the awful flail of his
mighty eloquence.' "
Kings Bridge Indians — In his history
of the town of Kings Bridge, New York,
Mr. Thomas H. Edsall says: "The
Indian name of this section was Weck-
quacskcek — ' the birch-bark country ' —
and its residents were known to the first
settlers Wickerscreek Indians. In person
they were tolerably stout. Their hair
was worn shorn to a coxcomb on top
with a long lock depending on one side.
They wore beaver and other skins, with
the fur inside in winter and outside in
summer, and also coats of Turkey
feathers. They were valiant warriors."
QUERIES
Casting a shoe after a bride —
Editor of Magazine of American His-
tory ; — What gave rise to the custom of
casting a shoe after a bride ?
Edgar Bowdoin
San Francisco, fuly 4, 18S7.
Did sir henry clinton introduce
the weeping willow in america ? —
I cut the following scrap from the Liv-
ing Church, of Chicago, of July 2, 1887 :
" The weeping willow seems to have a
romantic history. The first scion was
sent from Smyrna in a box of figs to
Alexander Pope. Gen. Clinton brought
a shoot from Pope's tree to America in
the time of the Revolution, which, pass-
ing into the hands of John Parke Cus-
tis, was planted on his estate in Vir-
ginia, thus becoming the progenitor of
the weeping willow in America." Is
there any truth in this "story," as to Sir
Henry Clinton ? X. Y. Z
Egyptian obelisk — Will some one of
the readers of the Magazine of American
i ;o
REPLIES
History give us the history of the Egyp-
tian Obelisk in Central Park, New York ?
Amos H. Fuller
New Rochelle.
Change in the English calendar
— When were eleven days dropped out
of the English calendar to make the
year agree with that of Continental
countries ? Q. P. Mansfield
Salem, Massachusetts.
William swayne, david ogden,-
daniel clarke, or clark — Informa-
tion is wanted of the birthplace and
ancestry of the Swaynes. William
Swayne, or Swaine, came to this coun-
try from England in 1635, in the Eliza-
beth and Ann, at the same time as
Thomas Lord, of Hartford. His age
was 50, and he was recorded ''gentle-
man." He ''settled in Watertown,
afterwards removed to Wethersfield,
Connecticut, where he was appointed
commissioner to rule the new settle-
ment ; afterwards removed to Bran-
ford." He held high offices and was a
leading man. His son, Samuel, was
representative in Connecticut in 1663 ;
afterwards leader of a new colony to
Newark, New Jersey, from which he
was a representative.
Captain David Ogden, grandson of
John Ogden, founder of Elizabeth, New
Jersey, 167 8-1 760, was a lawyer in New-
ark, and married "Abagail" . Is
her family name known to any of the
descendants ? Or anything of her an-
cestry ?
Daniel Clarke, or Clark, came to
America in 1639; died 1710, aged 87.
One of his descendants, Ann Clarke, of
Northampton (now deceased), said he
was a nephew of Rev. Ephraim Hunt,
former minister at Wraxhail, or Wrox-
hall, near Kenilworth, and to have come
from Chester or Westchester. " Hon.
Daniel Clark " was " Captain," " Secre-
tary of the Colony," and held other high
offices. Is anything further known con-
cerning the ancestry of Daniel Clarke,
or of his relationship to Rev. Mr. Hunt ?
The above data are desired for a genea-
logical work. Address,
Mrs. Edward E. Salisbury
New Haven, Connecticut,
REPLIES
Our presidents as horsemen [xvii.
483] — " De minimis non curantur" seems
the maxim that governs some writers.
Mr. Carpenter has written a lively ar-
ticle with the above title. On p. 482
he says : " Washington rode a fine
chestnut charger when he received the
sword of Cornwallis, Oct. 19, 1781."
It was a condition of the capitulation
that the officers should retain their side
arms, so, of course, Cornwallis retained
his sword and Washington did not re-
ceive it. Cornwallis was not even pres-
ent at the surrender " through indispo-
sition " as announced by General O'Hara,
who made the formal surrender of the
garrison to Major-General Lincoln as ap-
pointed by Washington ! See Irving s
Life of Washington, Vol. iv., p. 384. Mr.
Carpenter, on p. 485, says : " Washington
rode in his southern tour, in 1791, 1900
miles behind two horses in his white char-
iot." This statement places Washing-
ton's judgment in his plan of so long a
REPLIES
171
journey over execrable roads — fords and
dangerous ferries and to be prolonged
into the summer — at a very low point.
He was facile princeps of all the Presi-
dents in his knowledge and management
of horses. He excelled in his logic in
all practical matters in adapting means
to the end in view. It is said that his
Secretary of War estimated that 7,000
men would be sufficient to put down the
whisky insurrection in Pennsylvania.
Washington then called out 15,000. He
is now, nearly at the close of a century,
placed as it were on his defense for
cruelty to his two horses.
The following paragraph is found in
his " Diary, edited by B. J. Lossing,
New York, i860," p. 154 : "March 21st
1 79 1. My equipage cV attendance con-
sisted of a chariot and four horses drove
in hand — a light baggage waggon
cV two horses, four saddle horses, besides
a led one for myself, cV five attendants."
At Colchester ferry, April 7, soon after
leaving Mount Vernon " with the four
horses hitched to the chariot, one of the
leaders got overboard 50 yards from the
shore, and the others, one after another,
all got overboard harnessed and fastened
as they were, and were saved with no
damage to horses, carriage, or harness "
(pp. 162, 163, lb.) On the 15th, he
took two hired horses for a stage of
twenty miles to relieve those in the bag-
gage wagon.
" On the 1 6th, he crossed the Roanoke
in a flat boat which took in a carriage
and four horses at once" (p. 170). After
his return to Mount Vernon, he wrote,
June 13th, to Alexander Hamilton that
he " performed the tour with the same
set of horses " {Sparks' Writings of Wash-
ington, V. x., p. 167). He wrote 20th
July to David Humphreys, " The same
horses performed the whole tour, and
although much reduced in flesh kept up
their full spirits to the last day " (lb. p.
170). Irving (Vol. v., p. 40), says :
" Washington set out on his Eastern tour
from New York in his carriage and four
horses." This was his custom in travel-
ing, and we inquire how Mr. Carpenter
could have so entirely misapprehended
the facts ? He doubtless adopted the
positive language of Mr. Lossing.
"Diary, p. 15, note (of the Southern
tour in 1791) he performed a journey of
about 1900 miles in 3 months with the
same span of horses" Lossing virtually
repeats this with variations on p. 202,
" a journey of more than 1700 miles in
66 days with the same team of horses."
Mr. Lossing's error arose from his mis-
conception of Washington's ideas and
practice, and interpreting his phrase
" same set of horses" numbering eleven,
by " a span " or " tea?n of horses."
O. P. H.
New York, fuly 10.
" Boodle " [xviii. 82] — ' Bode ' is
Scotch signifying "to proffer, often as
implying the idea of some degree of con-
straint " — Jameso?is Scottish Dictionary.
This may be the root of the new word
lately added to our language.
Wm. Kite
Germantown Library.
At the death angle [xvi. 176] —
Editor of Magazine of American History ;
— There is a remarkable similarity be-
tween the paper above named, by Charles
A. Patch, and " From the Wilderness to
l72
REPLIES
Spottsylvania," by R. S. Robertson,
published in December, 1884, as well
as some errors, particularly where the
author speaks of the " celebrated oak,
upon whose trunk the Confederate colors
were lashed, causing it to become the
centre of such a furious rain of lead,
that, although twenty-two inches in
diameter, it was literally cut in twain,
and falling, injured many of the foe."
This incident is also mentioned in
" From the Wilderness to Spottsylvania,"
but the Confederate colors were not
lashed to the tree, nor did it, in falling,
injure many of the foe, for the very
good reason that none but Union troops
were near it when it fell. Again, in
describing the dragging off of the
abandoned Confederate gun, Mr. Patch
falls into a serious error when he says,
" After a number of shots the firing was
suddenly stopped, and a team of horses
quickly run out, attached to the piece,
and it was brought in triumphantly to
the Union lines." The stoppage of the
firing and the team of horses are crea-
tures of imagination and not facts.
Under a heavy fire, a squad of gallant
volunteers from the 26th Michigan In-
fantry, belonging to First Brigade, First
Division, Second Army Corps, crept out
to the gun with a long rope and dragged
it into our lines without the aid of any
horses.
R. S. Robertson,
Brevet Captain U. S. Volunteers.
Brevet Colonel N. Y. Volunteers.
Horse chestnuts.— [xvii. 263, 352,
529] The nuts of this tree furnish a
very useful kind of food for cattle.
Horses will eat them readily, so will
cows, sheep, and poultry. They im-
prove the milk of cows wonderfully,
make it much richer in quality ; and
horses subject to coughs are benefited
by a diet of it. When they are given to
sheep, it is considered desirable to steep
them in lime water in order to take off
the bitterness ; then wash them well in
water, and boil them. They should be
prepared for poultry feeding in a similar
way, but for cows and horses they simply
need crushing. The tree possesses
many useful qualities. Its bark is medi-
cinal ; it is an astringent, and a powder
is made of it in combination with the
bark of a willow, and the roots of gentian,
sweet flag, and avens, which equals (so
foreign M. D. 's say) powder of Cinchona.
The prickly husks of the nuts are em-
ployed on the Continent in tanning
leather. A German, named Spogel, has
prepared a kind of paste or size from the
fruit, which has the peculiar property of
preventing moths or vermin from breed-
ing in cases cemented by it. The re-
ceipt for preparing this is : Clear the
nuts of the hard shell, as well as of the
inner skin, cut them into four pieces,
dry them in the oven, and pound them
into a fine flour, take rain-water, with
a small quantity of alum dissolved in it,
and work the flour with it into a proper
consistence. — Raby, in Land and Water.
SOCIETIES
173
SOCIETIES
NEW HAMPSHIRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY
— The sixty-fourth annual meeting was
held in the* society's building in Con-
cord on June 8, the president in the
chair. The reports of the several offi-
cers were read, by which it appeared
that the balance in the treasury amount-
ed to $9,420.11, and that the additions
to the library during the year past num-
bered 467 .books and pamphlets.
Before proceeding to the election of
officers, the president, Charles H. Bell,
briefly addressed the society, thanking
them for the honor of nineteen succes-
sive elections to the chair, and announc-
ing that he was not a candidate for re-
election. The society then made choice
of the following officers for the ensuing
year. President, Jonathan E. Sargent,
of Concord ; vice-presidents, Samuel C.
Eastman, of Concord, George L. Bal-
com, of Claremont ; corresponding sec-
retary, John J. Bell, of Exeter ; record-
ing secretary, Amos Hadley, of Con-
cord ; librarian, Isaac W. Hammond, of
Concord ; treasurer, William P. Fiske,
of Concord ; auditor, Woodbridge Od-
lin, of Concord ; necrologist, Irving A.
Watson, of Concord ; standing commit-
tee, Joseph B. Walker and J. C A.
Hill, of Concord, Isaac K. Gage, of
Penacook ; publication committee, Chas.
H. Bell, of Exeter, I. W. Hammond, of
Concord, A. S. Batchellor, of Littleton;
library committee, J. E. Pecker, of Con-
cord, E. H. Spalding, of Wilton, J. C.
Ordway, of Concord.
The newly elected president took the
chair, with appropriate lemarks. A
vote of thanks to the retiring president
was unanimously adopted. Charles-
town (" Number Four "J was fixed upon
as the place for holding the annual
" field-day," and September as the time;
the exact day to be designated by the
president. During the meeting several
new members were chosen ; some gifts
to the society were presented, and vari-
ous matters of interest and of business
were discussed and disposed of.
The maine historical society held
its spring meeting on the 10th of June
in Portland, the Hon. James W. Brad-
bury in the chair. A very interesting
report was read by H. W. Bryant, the
librarian and cabinet-keeper, and papers
were read, by Hon. Wm. Goold, on
" The First Treaty of the United
States ; " by Hon. Joseph Williamson on
" The Visits of the Presidents of the
United States to Maine," and by Geo. F.
Talbot, on " The Capture of the Mar-
garita at Machias ; the first naval battle
of the Revolution." The society then
proceeded to the dinner it had ordered
in honor of President Bradbury, and
after many courses, wit and eloquence
took the floor, and never deserted it
until a late hour. Many distinguished
men were present.
The Oneida historical society
held its final meeting for this season on
the evening of June 27, in the Library
building. President Ellis H. Roberts in
the chair.
In the absence of the secretary, Alex-
ander Seward was appointed secretary
pro tern. General Darling, correspond-
1 74
SOCIETIES
ing secretary, reported a large number
of donations to the Society library, and
President Roberts read the following
communication :
Clinton, N. Y.,June 14, 1SS7.
lion, Ellis H. Roberts, President Oneida His-
torical Society :
Pear Sir : The citizens of Clinton will cel-
ebrate the one hundredth anniversary of the
settlement of this village July 13, 1SS7. It
being- a historical event and a matter of interest
to the society you represent, as well as to our
own people, we, as representatives of the
citizens of Clinton, would cordially extend to
your society an invitation to visit Clinton on
that occasion, and by your presence aid in mak-
ing our jubilee a complete success. An early
reply as to your acceptance will very much oblige
yours very respecfully,
E. S. Williams, President.
On motion of Rev. Dr. Isaac S.
Hartley, the invitation was accepted,
and a committee appointed to officially
represent the society at the celebration.
Rhode island historical society
— The quarterly meeting of this soci-
ety was held on the 5th of July, Pres-
ident William Gammell in the chair.
A communication on the spelling of
Rhode Island Indian names was laid
before the Society, and after remarks by
the president was referred to the special
committee on Indian localities. Presi-
dent Gammell spoke of the great im-
pulse given to historical pursuits by the
American Historical Association, and at
his request Mr. William B. Weeden gave
a graphic account of the recent meetings
of that Association, held in Boston,
Cambridge, and Plymouth. He spoke
of Mr. Justin Winsor's paper, which ex-
plained an organized movement in Great
Britain, not only to preserve historical
papers, but to have various depositories
of historical documents searched and
their treasures utilized. The Associa-
tion indorsed a movement to the same
end in the American Union. President
Gammell read extracts from a paper pre-
pared by ex-Governor Dyer, entitled
" A History of the Application of Steam
Power from 1663 to 1781." In the
sketch the names of Zachariah Allen
and other eminent citizens were duly
honored. President Gammell called
attention to the remains of a musket
recently found at Gaspee Point, and
presented to the society by Mr. Frank
W. Miner. This is supposed to have
belonged to a member of the party that
destroyed the British schooner Gaspee
near that place, June 10, 1772.
Among the highly prized gifts re-
ceived by the society during the past
quarter is a quarto volume containing a
commentary on the Book of Genesis, by
Andrew Willett, believed to have been
the father of Thomas Willett, the first
mayor of New York. Dr. Parsons, who
presented this book to the society, is a
descendant of Thomas Willett. A copy
of his sketch of Willett, read before
this society and printed in the Maga-
zine of American History, was sent first
to his uncle, Oliver Wendell Holmes,
and by the latter to a gentleman in Eng-
land, who repaid the compliment with
this volume, that once belonged to
Charles I., and has upon its cover the
coat of arms of that unfortunate king.
The remarks called out from Dr. Par-
sons and the Rev. Mr. Bartow were lis-
tened to with much interest.
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
The accomplished critical essayist, Edwin P. Whipple, gives in his work on American
literature a unique pen-portrait of Washington Irving. He says: "The 'revival' of
American literature in New York differed much in character from its revival in New
England. In New York it was purely human in tone ; in New England it was a little
superhuman in tone. In New England they feared the devil ; in New York they dared
the devil ; and the greatest and most original literary dare-devil in New York was a
young gentleman of good family whose ' schooling ' ended with his sixteenth year ; who
had rambled much about the island of Manhattan ; who had in his saunterings gleaned
and brooded over many Dutch legends of an elder time ; who had read much, but had
studied little ; who possessed fine observation, quick intelligence, a genial disposition,
and an indolently original genius in detecting the ludicrous side of things, and whose
name was Washington Irving. After some preliminary essays in humorous literature, his
genius arrived at the age of indiscretion, and he produced at the age of twenty-six the
most deliciously audacious work of humor in our literature, namely, ' The History of New
York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker.' "
The citizens of the village of Clinton, New York, celebrated on the 13th of July (1887)
the centennial anniversary of the beginnings of that interesting and intellectual place.
The first settlement west of " German Flats " was made at Whitestown by Hugh White,
in 1784. Clinton was settled in 1787, by seven or eight families, five of whom were
from Plymouth, Connecticut. The name of the heroic and self-denying missionary,
Samuel Kirkland, is identified with the early history of the village. The great Oneida
chieftain, Skenandoa, was one of his converts and pupils. The " Hamilton Oneida
Academy," which developed into Hamilton College, was the work of Kirkland. The vil-
lage was named in honor of George Clinton, the first governor of the state of New York. The
settlers were men of steady New England courage and faith ; and the church and school
flourished from the first. The earliest religious service was held on the 8th of April, 1787*
and in August, 1 791 , the younger Edwards visited Clinton and organized the church.
Hamilton College received its charter in 1812. The old " Property line" of 1768 passes
this village, near the foot of College Hill. Clinton has, indeed, a history of which it may
well be proud. The historic address on the centennial occasion was by the accom-
plished scholar, Professor S. G. Hopkins, and contained a mine of valuable information ;
the brilliant oration of the day was by Professor Oren Root. The presence of the Presi-
dent and Mrs. Cleveland added greatly to the interest of the occasion.
The Rev. E. P. Powell, in his address of welcome at the Clinton celebration, made this
graceful allusion to the presence of the distinguished guests of the day :
" We welcome the Chief Executive of the greatest nation now existing on the globe, a
man summoned by the vote of 60,000,000 out of the crowd of our Clinton school-boys to
stand as Chief Executive for forty States, each one larger than a kingdom. We welcome
him as a man who has never forgotten that he stands for the whole people and not for a
i;6 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
party, a statesman and not a politician, honored and loved by all parties and by all sec-
tions.'*
The President responded :
" I am by no means certain of my standing- here among those who celebrate the cen-
tennial of Clinton's existence as a village. My recollections of the place reach backward
but about thirty-six years, and my residence here covered but a very brief period. But
these recollections are fresh and distinct to-day, and pleasant, too, though not entirely
free from somber coloring. It was here in the school at the foot of College Hill that I
began my preparation for college life and enjoyed the anticipation of a collegiate education.
We had two teachers in our school. One became afterward a judge in Chicago, and the
other passed through the legal profession to the ministry, and within the last two years
was living further West. I read a little Latin with two other boys in the class. I think I
floundered through four books of the ALneid. The other boys had nice large, modern
editions of Virgil, with big print and plenty of notes to help one over hard places. Mine
was a little old-fashioned copy, which my father used before me, with no notes, and
which was only translated by hard knocks. I believe I have forgiven those other boys
for their persistent refusal to allow me the use of their notes in their books. At any rate
they do not seem to have been overtaken by any dire retribution, as one of them is now a
rich and prosperous lawyer in Buffalo, and the other a professor in your college and
orator of to-day's celebration. Struggles with ten lines of Virgil, which at first made up
my daily task, are amusing as remembered now ; but with them I am also forced to re-
member that instead of being the beginning of higher education, for which I honestly
longed, they occurred near the end of school advantages. This suggests disappointment,
which no lapse of time can alleviate, and a deprivation I have sadly felt with every pass-
ing year.
" I remember Benoni Butler and his store. I don't know whether he was an habitual
poet or not, but I heard him recite one poem of his own manufacture which embodied
an account of a travel to or from Clinton in the early days. I can recall but two lines of
the poem, as follows :
1 Paris Hill next came in sight,
And there we tarried over night.'
" I remember the next-door neighbors, Drs. Bissell and Scollard — and good, kind
neighbors they were, too — not your cross, crabbed kind, who could not bear to see a boy
about. It always seemed to me that they drove very fine horses, and for that reason I
thought they must be extremely rich. I don't know that I should indulge in further rec-
ollections that must seem very little like a centennial history, but I want to establish as
well as I can my right to be here. I might have spoken of the college faculty, who cast
such a pleasing though sober shade of dignity over the place, and who, with other ed-
ucated and substantial citizens, made up the best of social life. I was a boy then, but
notwithstanding, I believe I absorbed a lasting appreciation of the intelligence, of the re-
finement which made this a delightful home. I know that you will bear with me, my
friends, if I yield to the impulse which the mention of home creates and speak of my
own home here, and how through the memories which cluster about it I may claim a
tender relationship to your village. Here it was that our family circle entire, parents and
children, lived day after day in loving and affectionate converse, and here, for the last
time, we met around the family altar and thanked God that our household was unbroken
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS 177
by death or separation. We never met together in any other home after leaving this
death followed closely on our departure. And thus it is that as, with advancing years, I
survey the havoc death has made, and the thoughts of my early home become more
sacred, the remembrances of this pleasant spot so related are revived and chastened. I
can only add my thanks for the privilege of being with you to-day, and wish for the
village of Clinton in the future a continuation and increase of the blessings of the past."
An elegant banquet followed the literary exercises at Clinton, in which three hundred
guests participated. President Cleveland responded to the toast, " The President of the
United States," saying :
" I am inclined to content myself on this occasion with an acknowledgement on behalf
of the people of the United States of the compliment which you have paid to the office which
represents their sovereignty. But such an acknowledgment suggests an idea which I cannot
refrain from dwelling upon for a moment. That the office of President of the United States
does represent the sovereignty of sixty millions of people is to my mind a statement full
of solemnity, for this sovereignty I conceive to be the working act, or enforcement, of the
divine gift of man to govern himself, and a manifestation of God's plans concerning the
human race. Though the struggles of political parties to secure the incumbency of this
office, and the questionable methods sometimes resorted to for its possession, may not be
in keeping with this idea, and though the deceit practised to mislead the people in their
choice, and its too frequent influences on their suffrage may surprise us, these things should
never lead us astray in our estimate of this exalted position and its value and dignity. And
though your fellow-citizens who may be chosen to perform for a time the duties of this high
place should be badly selected, and though the best attainable results may not be reached
by his administration, yet the exacting watchfulness of the people, freed from the disturb-
ing turmoil of political excitement, ought to prevent mischance to the office which repre-
sents their sovereignty, and should reduce to a minimum the danger of harm to the State.
I by no means underestimate the importance of the utmost care and circumspection in
the selection of the incumbent. On the contrary, I believe there is no obligation of citizen-
ship that demands more thought and conscientious deliberation than this. But I am
speaking of the citizen's duty to the office and its selected incumbent. This duty is only
performed when in the interest of the entire people the full exercise of the powers of the
Chief Magistracy is insisted on, and when for the people's safety a due regard for the
limitations placed upon the office is exacted. These things should be enforced by the
manifestation of a calm and enlightened public opinion. But this should not be simulated
by the mad clamor of disappointed interest which, without regard for the general good or
allowance for the exercise of official judgments, would degrade the office by forcing com-
pliance with selfish demands. If your President should not be of the people and one of
your fellow-citizens he would be utterly unfit for the position, incapable of understand-
ing the people's wants and careless of their desires. That he is one of the people implies
that he is subject to human frailty and error, but he should be permitted to claim a little
toleration for mistakes. The generosity of his fellow-citizens should alone decree how far
good intentions should excuse his short-comings. Watch well, then, this high office, the
most precious possession of American citizenship. Demand for it the most complete
devotion on the part of him, to whose custody it may be intrusted, and protect it not less
vigilantly from without. Thus you will perform a sacred duty to yourselves, and to those
Vol. XVIII. -No. 2-12
1 -S HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
who may follow you in the enjoyment of the freest institutions which heaven has ever
vouchsafed to man."'
THE progress of central New York, since the early part of the century, is aptly illus-
trated through some characteristic anecdotes of Thurlow Weed. In 1812 he answered
the following" advertisement, which appeared in the Tocsin, a little newspaper published
at Union Springs : " -•/ boy who has worked some of the business is wanted os an
apprentice at tin's office." He secured the situation, and boarded with the editor's
family at a farm two miles from the office. He did not remain long, however, and the
next year was employed in a printing-house in Auburn, then an " exceedingly muddy,
rough-hewn, and straggling village." Again he boarded in an editor's family. He said :
"Out o\ my seven weeks' residence there Mr. Dickens would have found characters and
incidents for a novel as rich and original as that of David Copperfield or Nicholas
Nickleby, Mr. Brown, the editor, was an even-tempered, easy-going, good-natured man,
who took no thought of what he should eat, or what he should drink, or wherewithal he
should be clothed. He wrote his editorials and his History of the War upon his knee,
with two or three children about him, playing or crying, as the humor took them. Mrs.
Brown was placid, emotionless, and slipshod. Both were imperturbable. Nothing dis-
turbed either. There was no regular hour for breakfast or dinner, but meals were always
under or overdone. In short, like a household described by an early English author,
'everything upon the table was sour except the vinegar.' The printing sympathized with
the housekeeping. We worked at intervals during the day, and while making a pretense of
working in the evening, those hours were generally devoted to blindman's-buff with two
or three neighboring girls, or to juvenile concerts by Richard Oliphant, an amateur
vocalist and type-setter, to whom I became much attached."
When Professor Newberry, of Columbia College, was asked how New York City would
be benefited by the coming meeting of scientists in August, he replied : "The associa-
tion is the great promoter of science in the United States. Its influence has been incalcu-
lable. It has met in all the principal cities East and West, and has left behind it an influ-
ence which has been powerful and permanent. Schools, colleges, geological surveys have
sprung up in its track, as flowers bloom in the path of spring. New York is the centre of
intellectual activity in this country. Yet with all the evidences of progress and culture
which we see around us, there is one great lack. It is the want of organization and co-
herence among those who represent scientific, literary, and artistic ideas. This city is full
of leaders of thought, yet they are buried and lost in the great tide of commercialism.
There is, then, in this city, a great work for the- American Association to do. It is the
same work which it has accomplished elsewhere on a smaller scale. It is to bring together
the scattered workers in science in this city ; bring them face to face with each other and
with the scientific delegates representing every section of our country. The effect will be
to give to scientific influences, which are the modern civilizers, the benefit of that organiza-
tion which they still lack. Thus the meeting will do something to diminish the absorption
of our New York population in its pursuit of pleasure and profit, which now constitutes
its chief occupation."
New HAVEN has had a celebration. The 17th of June, 1887, will go into history as
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
*79
THE NEW HAVEN MONUMENT FROM THE FOOT OF EAJ
"New Haven's Monument Day." On a commanding- eminence, in full view of the city,
of the swift-flying trains through its boundaries, and of all passing mariners near its coasts,
New Haven has erected a monument in memory of her heroic sons who fell in the four
principal wars in which our country has been engaged— that of the Revolution, the War
of 1812, the Mexican War, and the late Civil War — and this monument was formally un-
veiled and dedicated in presence of the largest concourse of people ever assembled on any
occasion in the State of Connecticut. The famous East Rock upon which it stands,
crowned with the form of an angel ot peace, was some time since converted into a park of
great beauty, and has become New Haven's favorite pleasure drive. The procession of
the great Monument Day was of such magnitude that in parading the richly decorated
streets it was some five hours in passing any one point. The military display was credit-
able to the city and the State. The school-boys formed a guard in one of the divisions
that was extremely picturesque and effective — like a moving mass of red, white, and blue.
Closely following was one of the most interesting and suggestive displays that has ever
been witnessed in any city. It was the unbroken sisterhood of States, represented by
girls from the schools, in lavishly ornamented barges, thirty-eight in number, each barge
having some special characteristics shown in its decorations and emblems of the State it
represented, with the exact date of its admission into the Union.
[80
BOOK NOTICES
BOOK NOTICES
YEAR BOOK OF THE HOLLAND SO-
CIETY OF NEW YORK. 1SS6-1SS7.
Royal octavo, pp. 191. By the Secretary.
This superb volume does credit to the taste
and public spirit of its projectors. The sons of
Holland have established an institution in New
York, of which the first fruit is a fitting chron-
icle of their pilgrimages, speeches, and success-
ful dinners throughout the year. To read the
book is the next best thing to being a Dutchman
and participating in the festivities. For a society
only a year old this Holland Society runs about
the country with remarkable facility and vigor.
It made its formal debut at the banquet-table on
the Sth of January. 1886, and conducted itself
with mature propriety, as far as reported in the
volume. It made its first railway journey July
18, of the same year, having been invited to
Albany on the occasion of the two-hundred-and-
fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of that
city. It made its pioneer effort to found a Glee
Club from its own membership during the same
summer, intending to invent its own Dutch
music ; and its first failure was in evolving this
musical talent. One member said, " Yes, I can
sing, but if you tell what part after hearing
me, you can do much more than I have been
able to accomplish thus far. If old King David
had heard me in his day and generation he
would never have recovered from his lunacy. I
am in earnest. I advise you, as a friend, and as
a member of the society, to keep me out of the
Glee Club." Another said, "Like Artemus
Ward, I am saddest when I sing — and so are
my friends." And still another, "Can I sing?
Yes, very high and very low, and always loud
when my pain catches me. " The secretary
became hopelessly bewildered with the responses
of some one hundred and twenty Vans in the
society, who declared they could "neither sing
nor read music ; " and the Glee Club remains a
myth.
The society made its first pilgrimage, with an
active force of one hundred and eighty-four,
September II, 1886. It reached Kingston on
the Hudson in safety, lunched, then ad-
journed to a church, gorgeously decorated, with
a side room devoted to a loan exhibition of
Datch relics, and listened to brilliant addresses
by Rev. Dr. Van Slyke and General George H.
Sharp':, after which it climbed the " Kaater-
skills " with as much agility as Rip Van Winkle
of old. Upon these historic heights it was roy-
ally entertained by Samuel D. Coykendall, and
nothing in the published accounts would give
the impr^don that the young and dashing Hol-
land Society was backward about coming for-
ward, or in doing its full duty, when summoned
to the magnificent banquet prepared by its hos-
pitable host.
Its first anniversary dinner took place at the
Hotel Brunswick, January 27, 1887. Judging
from its after-dinner speeches, the society has
reached its majority. The book is well con-
ceived, and while it contains much of wit and
pleasantry, it is a valuable historic memento,
touching upon the works and exploits of the
Dutch people in all the past. The elegant illus-
trations render the work especially valuable. It
has portraits of such men as David Van Nos-
trand, General Sharpe, Judge Augustus Van
Wyck, Judge Hooper C. Van Voorst, George
W. Van Siclen, Rev. Dr. Hoes, Aaron J. Van-
derpoel, Gen. Stewart Van Vliet, Tunis G.
Bergen, Rev. Dr. Duryee, Dr. Van der Veer,
Rev. Dr. J. Howard Suydam, John R. Planten,
and William Waldorf Astor, with excellent pict-
ures of several of the old Kingston home-
steads, the church, and the historic Senate-house.
THE FRENCH IN THE ALLEGHENY
VALLEY. By T. J. Chapman, M. A. i2mo,
pp. 209. Cleveland, Ohio. 1887. W. W.
Williams. Author's residence, 20 Crawford
Street, Pittsburgh, Pa.
This is the only monograph on the subject
that has yet been published. Some of its chap-
ters have already appeared in the pages of the
Magazine of American History, the author being
one of our well known and valued contributors.
The information he has embodied in the work
has been culled from various sources, and is pre-
sented in a concise and readable form. It
embraces the period beginning with the voy-
age of Celoron down the Allegheny in 1749
and ending with the siege of Fort Pitt and the
fall of the northern military posts in 1763. All
the statements of the author seem to have been
carefully verified; and concerning, as it does,
an important feature in our local annals, the lit-
tle volume will be a treasure to historic scholars.
It is printed in good type, on fine paper, and is
neatly bound in cloth. Only a very small edi-
tion has been published. Price $1.25.
THE QUEEN OF THE HOUSE OF
DAVID AND MOTHER OF JESUS.
The story of her life. By the Rev. A. Stew-
art Walsh, D.D. i6mo, pp. 626. New
York : Henry S. Allen.
Two books are inevitably suggested alike by
the title, the motive, and the subject-matter of
this book, namely, " The Prince of the House
of David " and " Ben Ilur." The similarity is
BOOK NOTICES
181
not wholly confined to the title, though nothing
is further from our intention than to intimate
that it is an imitation of either. It is certainly
highly original in conception and execution, and
coming from the pen of a Protestant clergyman
is sure to command a wide audience. It is not a
little singular that such a character as that of the
Virgin Mary should not have been made con-
spicuous by Protestant as well as by Roman
Catholic teachers. Probably the exaltation of
the Virgin by Catholics has repelled Protestants
from one of the most beautiful of the characters
portrayed in Scripture narrative, but this is all
wrong, for assuredly there is much of sacred
divinity in the conception of the Mother of
God. Doctor Talmadgo has written an appre-
ciative introduction, but the narrative is well
able to speak for itself, and no scrupulous
Protestant need fear that the dreaded " mari-
olatry "— so called by those who know not the
teachings of Rome in regard to it — shall receive
a word of encouragement. Dr. Talmadge's
name, indeed, is a guarantee against anything
unscriptural, heterodox, or heretical, and will
doubtless secure thousands of readers for the
very able narrative.
MRS. HEPHAESTUS AND OTHER
SHORT STORIES, together with "West
Point." A Comedy in three Acts. By George
A. Baker. Small i6mo, pp. 210. New
York : White, Stokes & Allen.
Mr. Baker's "Point Lace and Diamonds,"
and " Bad Habits of Good Society," make with
the present volume a dainty triplet of books, of
a quality in light literature that justifies their
great popularity. The present volume is pref-
aced by an announcement which must be
almost unique, to the effect that two of the
included selections were already accepted and
paid for by the Century Company, but are freely
permitted to appear in their present form. Any-
thing more charming than " The Child of the
Regiment," and "West Point," it would be
hard to find in the literature of the day.
FINAL MEMORIALS OF HENRY WADS-
WORTH LONGFELLOW. Edited by
Samuel Longfellow. 8vo, pp. 447. Bos-
ton. 1887. Ticknor & Co.
In this supplementary volume to the biography
of Mr. Longfellow we have some very clear,
beautiful pictures of the poet in his later years.
The editor has selected from the material ex-
cluded in preparing the original work, which
was, in his opinion, becoming too large in size,
in response to criticisms on the part of many
readers, and the request for a fuller memorial,
this volume has been issued. It is devoted to
the period in which the sweetness and dignity
of the poet's character seemed most attractive —
the fifteen years prior to his death. The pas-
sages from his diary are selected with remarka-
ble discrimination and good taste, showing the
man in all his charming simplicity and serenity
of temperament, when active, absorbing work
had been laid aside, and intercourse with wits,
scholars, and loving friends his sweetest pastime.
The character of Mr. Longfellow was of that
particular kind which grows more and more
beautiful as it ripens with age. Thus his biog-
rapher has won our everlasting gratitude by the
publication of this excellent and captivating
book. Of his abundant and playful humor as
well as his universal kindness we are given
many examples. " Longfellow liked to talk of
young poets, and he had an equally humorous
and kind way of noticing the foibles of the lit-
erary character. Standing in the porch one
summer day, and observing the noble elms
in front of his house, he recalled a visit made
to him long before by one of the many bards
now extinct who are embalmed in Griswold.
Then, suddenly assuming a burly martial air, he
seemed to reproduce for me the exact figure and
manner of the youthful enthusiast who had tossed
back his long hair, gazed approvingly on the
elms, and in a deep voice exclaimed : ' I see.
Mr. Longfellow, that you have many trees ; I
love trees!!' 'It was,' said the poet, ' as if
he gave a certificate to all the neighboring vege-
tation.' A few words like these, said in Mr.
Longfellow's peculiar, dry, humorous manner,
with a twinkle of the eye and a quietly droll in-
flection of the voice, had a certain charm of
mirth that cannot be described. It was that
same demure playfulness which led him, when
writing, to speak of the lady who wore flowers
'on the congregation side of her bonnet,' or to
extol those broad, magnificent Western roads
which ' dwindle to a squirrel track and run up
a tree.' "
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. An
Essay. By John Baker, LL.B. T2mo,
pp. 126. New York and London. 1887.
G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The study of the origin, growth, and prin-
ciples of the Constitution under which we have
become one of the great nations of the world is
by no means a profitless undertaking. The
more the science of government becomes in-
telligently understood and comprehended by
our younger men in the varied walks of life,
the better will be the prospects for the country at
large. The aim of the author in this work is to
present in brief space and in clear light an out-
line of the engrossing subject in all its bearings ;
and many a reader will discern through his
terse sentences the windings through which we
have passed from the political labyrinth of over
1 82
BOOK NOTICES
a century ago. He says, truly, " The real enemy
of freedom is ignorance. The people should
•nstantly educated in liberty. In a govern-
ment like oar own, every man according to his
place and capacity should strive to diffuse
knowledge of political economy, and to inculcate
virtue in the citizen. The jealousy of parties
tends, doubtless, to keep the stream of politics
pure, even as the planets are held in their orbits
by opposing forces. The citizen should be
taught to be just. The struggles, the political
upheavals, and the wars through which our
nation has passed, were caused not so much
from the ignorance of the members as from the
incompatible elements and institutions in the
several States. But these trials have not weak-
ened the system, but rather strengthened the
organism. They have developed its real char-
acter, and enabled the people to administer the
government with more confidence and unity."
The little volume is a complete hand-book of
suggestion as well as information, and of great
permanent value.
CHINA. TRAVELS AND INVESTIGA-
TIONS IN THE MIDDLE KINGDOM,
WITH A GLANCE AT JAPAN. By
James Harrison Wilson. i6mo, pp. 376.
New Vork : D. Appleton & Co.
This handsome volume is the result of a
journey undertaken for a purpose. Impressed
by the unaccountable depression of traffic where
once a thriving trade had inured to the mutual
benefit of all concerned, the author determined
to investigate for himself, with special reference
to the practicability of introducing railways and
a modern system of communication into China
and Japan. An interview with Li Hung Chang,
Chief Secretary of the Empire, and perhaps the
most intelligently progressive man in China,
led to an extended journey involving more than
1500 miles in the saddle and untold distances
by canal and other modes of travel. Japan and
Formosa were visited after China, and the
author returned to New York about a year after
his departure. All this, as the author himself
frankly admits, would not justify a new book on
China and Japan, were it not that the tour had
a semi-official character, and led to meetings
with many of the most distinguished native
leaders resident in the different countries visited.
General Wilson recognizes the value of the
work of Dr. S. Welles Williams, in " The Middle
Kingdom," and does not propose trenching
upon his province. He confines himself to
what foreign influences have accomplished for
China and the other members of the same geo-
graphical and ethnological group, and endeav-
ors to point out what still remains for them to
do. His conclusion is that there is lacking only
the necessary combination of circumstances to
arouse the Imperial Chinese Government to a
sense of its peril and its necessities, and induce
it to adopt those modern methods which alone
can secure it against foreign aggression and
place it in a secure position among the great
powers of the earth.
DRONE'S HONEY. By Sophie May. i6mo,
pp. 281. Boston : Lee & Shepard.
Sophie May's stories are all sprightly, witty, and
full of action. The present one takes a hero from
Chicago, and a brace of heroines from the woods
of Maine, and their loves and losses form the
basis of a tale that is very pleasant reading, and
introduces some amusing and ingenious epi-
odes of Elastern and Western life.
THE FISHERY QUESTION. By Charles
Isham. i6mo, pp. 89. New York : G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
There is no telling how soon the fishery ques-
tion may become of tremendous international
importance, and this compact and well-conceived
volume goes far to make clear the principles in-
volved. It is neither safe nor right for Ameri-
cans to assume that there is only one side to the
question, namely, their own. Our wasteful
methods have nearly destroyed many of our once
valuable in-shore fisheries, and our Canadian
neighbors are fully justified in seeking to pre-
serve their own from a similar fate. With the
aid of a map and abundant references, Mr.
Isham makes clear the history of the fishery
dispute from the earliest explorations till the
present day, shows the local distribution of the
different kinds of valuable sea-fishes, and cites
the opinions of the different statesmen who from
time to time have given the matter the most
profound consideration. The volume is No.
XLI. of the valuable series brought out by the
Putnams under the title Questions of the Day,
and the clear type in which it is printed is re-
freshing to eyes that are beginning to rebel
against the microscopic letter-press of the period.
THE AMERICAN ELECTORAL SYSTEM.
By Charles A. O'Neil, LL.B. i6mo, pp.
284. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons.
The standard histories of the United States
have little or nothing to say about the various
complications that have from time to time arisen
concerning the mode of electing the President
of the United States, and Mr. O'Neil's attempt
to classify and elucidate the facts that bear upon
the subject is amply justified by the lack of
authorities. In order to reach the truth con-
HOOK NOTICES
183
cerning the subject of his research, files of daily
newspapers beginning with 1788, Congressional
debates, and " Niles Register," have been dili-
gently searched, with a result that seems to
justify the amount of labor that has been so
faithfully bestowed. No one who has watched
the increasing danger of revolution that threat-
ens with every recurring close contest for the
presidency can fail to recognize the importance
of anything that can contribute to our knowl-
edge of the difficulties that surround the problem.
Every such contribution does its share to fix
attention upon the questions involved, and
eventually our law-makers may — nay, must — be
forced into revising the laws so that no President
can be counted out or counted in, as is too often
the case with lower offices within the gift of the
people. A copious index renders it easy to re-
fer to any of the several instances where a
presidential election has been in doubt. If the
average politician could be persuaded to con-
sider seriously anything beyond his own interests
it would be well to compel him to read this
book. To the average politician, however, it
seems an eminently desirable state of things if
a door is left open whereby the cleverest and
most unscrupulous party can distort the returns
to its own advantage.
FROM THE FORECASTLE TO THE
CABIN. By Captain S. Samuels. i6mo,
pp. 308. New York : Harper & Brothers.
The line is pretty sharply drawn between
people who enjoy sea-stories and those who do
not ; but we can almost venture to recommend
Captain Samuels' book to every one. In these
days when lies are written and printed by the
wholesale, it is refreshing to read a personal nar-
rative so full of thrilling adventures that actually
befell the narrator. The palmy days of the
American merchant marine, when our ships
competed with those of England for the carry-
ing trade of the world, were full of opportuni-
ties for personal prowess and daring. Captain
Samuels ran away to sea when a boy, in the
orthodox fashion, and had worked his way up to
a captaincy when he reached his majority. There
is not a dull page in his book. Encounters
with pirates, with mutineers, and with the ele-
ments in their most stupendous violence, are
described with a calm, matter-of-fact air that
carries with it a conviction of their truth. The
story of the famous clipper Dreadnaught and
her performances is one of the most interesting
passages. When our legislators can find time
to consider really important matters we may re-
gain, in part, at least, the maritime supremacy
that was ours in Captain Samuels' day, and we
may develop a class of men whose services are
of the greatest value to the nation whenever
there is a call for volunteers on land or sea.
THE STORY OF METLAKAHTLA. By
H knr v L. Wellcome. i6mo, pp. 483. Lon-
don & New York : Saxon & Co.
From the remote regions bordering the North-
western Pacific territory rumors have from time
to time reached the centres of population con-
cerning a struggling little colony there which,
under the charge of Mr. James Duncan, had
made a wonderful record for itself. Metla-
kahtla is the name of the village, and its his-
tory is for the first time given to the world in
the present volume. Mr. Duncan went out to
the British possessions many years ago with
some very well-defined ideas as to the duties of
a missionary in dealing with savages. He
established himself under the protection of a
British military post while learning the native
language, and by the time that was accom-
plished he had made up his mind that the only
way to influence the savages was to take his life
in his hand and live among them. His portrait,
which prefaces the volume, shows a strong and
strikingly benevolent face, and the pages which
follow must ever represent a remarkable passage
in the history of the Northwest. The repre-
sentatives of the Church of England are rather
severely arraigned for their interference with
Mr. Duncan's plans, and he, with characteristic
energy, has sought refuge for himself and his
colony under the Stars and Stripes.
THE VAN GELDER PAPERS, and other
Sketches. Edited by J. T. I. i6mo, pp.
316. New York : G P. Putnam's Sons.
To say that the Van Gelder Papers are mod-
eled upon the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow"
and its kindred tales might imply a compliment,
or the reverse. There are certainly passages
that forcibly recall Washington Irving's style.
And this is the more apparent since nearly all
the motives are found among the early Dutch
settlements of Long Island, a region almost as
rich in legendary lore as are the historic reaches
of the Hudson. That the Van Gelden Fapers
will do for Long Island what Irving's classic
tales have done for the Hudson can hardly be
expected, but they are not unworthily aimed in
the same direction.
THE WHEREWITHAL SYSTEM OF
EDUCATION. A book complete in two
pages. i2mo. The Wherewithal Manufac-
turing-Publishing Company. Philadelphia.
This ingenious little work has for its object
to teach people how to do their own thinking. It
is accompanied by a roller-chart, with seven
questions: t. The Cause or Source? 2. Its
Essentials ? 3. Associated with ? 4 . Its In-
1 84
BOOK NOTICES
cidents? 5. It Illustrates? 6. Its Effect? 7.
Conclusions? The novelty of the device can-
not tail to attract attention. It is suggestive,
and promises to be of great use as an aid to the
thoughtful.
APPLETON'S CYCLOPAEDIA OF AMERI-
CAN BIOGRAPHY. Edited by James
Grant Wilson and John Fiske. Vol. II.
Crane -Grimshaw. Svo, pp. 768. New
York : D. Appleton & Co.
In January of the present year the first vol-
ume of this important biographical dictionary
was given to the American public, and now the
second volume appears in a handsome dress to
join its predecessor upon the library shelf. The
editors and the publishers are alike to be con-
gratulated upon the successful results of their
important undertaking as far as it has progressed.
The present installment of the work includes
the names of prominent Americans from Crane
to Grimshaw — and some who were not born
in this country but Americans by adoption.
It contains ten portraits, exquisitely engraved
on steel, of which is one of General Grant,
forming the frontispiece to the volume. The
biographical sketch of General Grant, care-
fully written by General Horace Porter, and
covering some seventeen pages, is, we believe,
the largest individual notice in the entire work.
The portrait of Garfield is an excellent likeness
of the murdered President ; the biographical
sketch of him, covering six pages, is from the
pen of William Walter Phelps. Horace Greeley
is given about seven and one-half pages, and an
admirable portrait ; his biographer is Whitelaw
Reid, the editor of the New York Tribune.
The portraits of ex-President Fillmore, Robert
Fulton, Dr. Benjamin Franklin, General Na-
thaneal Green, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Ad-
miral Farragut are also superbly engraved on
steel. The sketch of Admiral Farragut occupies
some seven pages, and is by Rossiter Johnson,
author of the " History of the War of 1812." A
little more than fourteen pages are given to the
great philosopher, Dr. Franklin, written by John
Fiske, who says, and justly, " The abilities of
Franklin were so vast and so various, he touched
human life at so many points, that it would re-
quire an elaborate essay to characterize him
properly. He was at once philosopher, states-
man, diplomatist, scientific discoverer, inventor,
philanthropist, moralist, and wit, while as a
writer of English he was surpassed by few
writers of his time. History presents few ex-
amples of a career starting from such humble
beginnings and attaining to such great and en-
during splendor." Mr. Fiske also contributes
the biographical sketch of Robert Fulton, which
is skillfully condensed into a page and a half ;
while that of Ralph Waldo Emerson, by George
Parsons Lathrop, is spread over five and one-
half pages, through the more diffuse and unsatis-
factory method of the writer. We notice a
sketch and portrait of Lord Dufferin, who was
born in Florence, Italy, and in 1872 became
Governor -general of Canada. The volume
abounds in good illustrations other than those in
steel ; some of the smaller vignette portraits,
from original drawings by Jacques Reich, are ex-
tremely well executed likenesses, as for instance
those of Chauncey M. Depew, Rev. Dr. Thomas
De Witt, William M. Evarts, Senator Dawes,
Richard H. Dana, Jr., and Edwaid Everett. S.
Austin Allibon, LL.D., is the author of the
sketches of the Everetts, Alexander II . and Ed-
ward, which, it is needless to add, are extremely
well written. Among other illustrative pictuies
in the work are views of birthplaces, residences,
monuments, and tombs famous in history. The
portraits are nearly all accompanied by facsimile
autographs. The editors seem to have worked
with conscientious and untiring industry in
collecting valuable material from original
sources, and are, in consequence, producing a
highly creditable cyclopaedia of biography for this
country, which is educational as well as enter-
taining and instructive, through the fact that in
the sketches of public characters the accounts
of public measures are recorded as well, and they
are generally full and carefully authenticated.
As we remarked in our review of the first
volume, this biographical dictionary will nat-
urally become a necessity for all scholars, in
whatever country they may reside, and we
have such confidence in the judgment and taste
of its projectors that we believe no effort will be
spared to make it as perfect in its complete
execution as it has been commendable in its con-
ception and progress. As a specimen of the
book-making art it has no superior in its field.
Photo g-ravutse: Co.H.Y.
ER-GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM. 1749-1789.
■ ■ k
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII SEPTEMBER, 1887 No. 3
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM
OF THE CONTINENTAL ARMY
AT the first Commencement of Brown University, then Rhode Island
College, on the seventh day of September, 1769, the prominent feat-
ure of the occasion was a " forensic disputation " upon the question " Whether
British America can, under the present circumstances, consistent with good
policy, affect to become an independent State ? " The disputants were William
Williams, afterward a distinguished divine, in the affirmative, and James
M. Varnum, who on the negative in the debate made an able and eloquent
address, deprecating a separation from England and the formation of an
independent state as unwise and impracticable under the circumstances.
It may be that Mr. Varnum took this view purely as the result of an
arbitrary assignment by the Faculty of the College ; but if not, then it is
evident that with the lapse of time, and changed circumstances, his ideas
underwent a radical change, for we shall find him barely seven years later
one of the strongest supporters by voice, pen, and sword of the great
cause of American Independence.
He was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, December 17, 1748. His great-
great-grandfather, George Varnum, came from Great Britain before 1635,
and settled near Ipswich, Massachusetts ; and his father, Major Samuel
Varnum, was a large landowner on the banks of the Merrimac, and a man
of prominence and influence in the community. Young Varnum spent a
short time at Harvard University, then entered Rhode Island College,
where he was graduated. He is said to have early developed a singular
capacity for learning, and " made liberal acquisitions in general knowledge
and literature." On leaving college he taught a classical school for a
while, studied law with Hon. Oliver Arnold, the attorney-general of Rhode
Island, was admitted to the bar in 1771, and soon after established him-
self at East Greenwich, where he rapidly rose to distinction in his pro-
fession. He married Martha, daughter of Hon. Cromel Child. His house
at East Greenwich, built in 1767, which is still standing (1887), was re-
garded in his day as one of the finest in the colony, and under its hospi-
Vol. XVIII.— No. 3-13
1 86
GENERAL TAMES M. VARNUM
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM 1 87
table roof he entertained in great state Generals Washington, Lafayette,
Greene, Sullivan, and other distinguished officers of the American and
French armies, while stationed in Rhode Island during the war, and in
subsequent years. Commissary-General Blanchard, of the French army,
relates that when he dined with General Varnum at his pleasant home,
in August, 1780, their conversation was in Latin.
From early life General Varnum evinced a decided taste for military
affairs, and in 1774 became commander, with the rank of colonel of the
" Kentish Guards," an organization which furnished from its ranks many
distinguished officers to the American army. Upon the outbreak of the
Revolution he at once offered his services to the government, which were
accepted, and he was appointed, on the eighth day of May, 1775, by the
Rhode Island Provincial General Assembly, colonel of the First Regiment
of Rhode Island Infantry. On the 8th of June, 1775, Colonel Varnum
arrived with his regiment at Roxbury, Massachusetts, and was under fire
during the shelling of that place, June 17, 1775. His regiment was present
at the siege of Boston, thence went to Providence and New York, and on
the 3d of May, 1776, crossed to Brooklyn and began to fortify the heights,
and during the month of June was garrisoned at Fort Box and the
" Oblong " Redoubt at Brooklyn. It was in the action at Harlem Heights,
and was afterward stationed at Fort Lee, and employed in maneuvers
against the enemy in Westchester County, taking part in the battle of
White Plains.
In October, 1776, General Washington specially recommended Var-
num for retention in the army on its proposed rearrangement " for the
war," and in December, 1776, he was sent to Rhode Island to hasten by
his influence and presence the recruitment of the army, as the terms of
enlistment of the Rhode Island regiments were drawing to a close. Soon
after his return, Varnum was appointed brigadier-general, December 12,
1776, of the militia of Rhode Island, and of the Rhode Island brigade on
the Continental establishment, and on -February 21, 1777, received the
same rank in the Continental army, and was notified thereof by General
Washington in very complimentary terms. General Varnum, with his
brigade, was at Peekskill, New York, in June, 1777, thence went to Middle-
brook, New Jersey, and was afterward successively at Fort Montgomery,
White Plains, and Peekskill; and in October, 1787, at Fort Mercer, New
Jersey.
From Peekskill, August 27, 1777, he wrote to Governor Cooke, of
Rhode Island, appealing for immediate supplies of clothing and other
necessaries for his troops, in which letter he says: "The naked situation
iSS
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM
oi the troops when observed parading for duty is sufficient to extort the
tears of compassion from every human being. . . . There are not two
in five who have a shoe, stocking, or so much as breeches to render them
decent." On November I, 1777, he was directed by Washington to take
supervision of Fort Mercer, Red Bank, and Fort Mifflin. During the
bombardment of Fort Mifflin, or Mud Island, and its heroic defense,
November 5, 1777, he reported to General Washington as follows: ''We
have lost a great many men to-day ; a great many officers are killed and
PARLOR IN THE OLD VARNUM HOMESTEAD.
[T/te woodwork is the original of one hundred and twenty years ago.~\
wounded. My fine company of artillery is almost destroyed. We shall
be obliged to evacuate the fort this night."
General Varnum's brigade subsequently joined the main army, and went
into winter quarters at Valley Forge in December, 1777.
General Varnum, in a letter to General Greene from Valley Forge,
February 1, 1778, speaks of General Washington as follows: " I know, the
great General in this, as in all his other measures, acts from goodness of
soul and with a view only to the public weal. . . . You have often
heard me say, and I assure you I feel happy in the truth of it, that next
to God Almighty and my country, I revere General Washington, and noth-
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM
89
ing fills me with so much indignation as the villainy of some who dare
speak disrespectfully of him."
Early in June, 1778, General Varnum was sent by General Washington
on special duty to Rhode Island, where he was joined at Providence by
his brigade about August 3, preparatory to the campaign before Newport,
and was assigned to the command of the right wing of the first line of
the army in Rhode Island. In the battle of Rhode Island his brigade
bore the principal part of the fighting against the forces of General Pigot.
BEDCHAMBER IN THE VARNUM HOMESTEAD.
{Occupied on various occasions by Washington, Lafayette, and other revolutionary generals?^
During the absence of Major-General Sullivan in January, 1779, Var-
num was placed temporarily in command of the Department of Rhode
Island.
The necessity of attending to his private affairs, and the inadequacy of
the compensation received from Congress, in depreciated paper currency,
to support his family, compelled him reluctantly to tender his resignation
to Congress, and on March 5, 1779, he was honorably discharged from the
service, and resumed the practice of law in East Greenwich. Major-General
Sullivan issued a general order March 18, 1779, announcing with regret the
resignation of General Varnum, and expressing in the highest terms his
190 GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM
appreciation of his character, and of his " brave, spirited, and soldier-like
conduct " while in the army.
General Varnum was appointed by the Rhode Island General Assembly,
on May 5, 1779. major-general of the militia of the state, and continued to
hold that office by annual reappointments until May 7, 1788. From July
2? to August 8, 1780, he was called into the actual service of the United
States under Lieutenant-General Comte de Rochambeau.
From May 3, 1780, to May 1, 1782, and from May I, 1786, to May 2,
1787, he was a member of the Continental Congress from Rhode Island.
" As that body sat with closed doors, his voice could not be heard by the
public, but his name appeared ofteneron the published journals than many
others of that body." The Honorable William Samuel Johnson, of Con-
necticut, who was with him in Congress, referring to his congressional
career, says " that he was a man of uncommon talents and the most
brilliant eloquence."
At the end of the war he recommenced the practice of the law at East
Greenwich, and soon became one of the leading lawyers of the state. Many
great and important cases arose, growing out of the relations of the nation
to the state. Among these the case of Trevett against Weeden, tried in
September, 1786, and involving the legality of the legislative act requiring
under severe penalties the taking of paper money issued by the state at the
same value as gold, was the most important, and "stirred the community
to its very foundation." General Varnum, appearing for the defendant,
took what was then the unpopular side, the legislature and the general
public being in favor of paper money ; and his argument was not that of an
advocate alone, but that of a citizen advocating upon the highest grounds
the cause of an honest and reliable currency. His argument, copies of
which are still extant, was so able and so forcible that the court adjudged
the paper money acts unconstitutional and void.
For rendering this just and honorable decision, the judges were im-
peached by the legislature, and were defended by General Varnum in a
"copious, argumentative, and eloquent " speech. The impeachment pro-
ceedings were subsequently defeated, a result due in no small measure, as
was generally admitted, to Varnum's efforts. Of his personal appearance,
in 1786, it will be interesting, perhaps, to quote a description of him from
" Updyke's Memoirs of the Rhode Island Bar": " On the other hand ap-
peared General Varnum with his brick-colored coat, trimmed with gold lace,
buckskin small-clothes with gold lace knee-bands, silk stockings, and boots
(General Barton and himself being the only gentlemen who wore boots all
day at that period), with a high, delicate, and white forehead, with a
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM
I9I
cowlick on the right side, eyes prominent and of a dark hue, his complexion
rather florid — somewhat corpulent, well proportioned, and finely formed for
strength and agility, large eyebrows, nose straight and rather broad, teeth
perfectly w-hite, a profuse head of hair, short on the forehead, turned up
some, and deeply powdered and clubbed. When he took off his cocked hat
he would lightly brush up his hair forward, while with a fascinating smile
lighting up his countenance he took his seat in court opposite his opponent."
PUNCH BOWL PRESENTED TO GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM BY LAFAYETTE.
[From the original in possession of Francis Lawton^ Esq.~\
Elkanah Watson, in his Memoirs, says : " Mr. Varnum was one of the
most eminent lawyers and distinguished orators in the Colonies. I first
heard him deliver a Masonic oration in 1774. Until that moment I had
formed no conception of the powers and charm of oratory. The effect of
his splendid exhibition has remained for forty-eight years indelibly fixed
upon my mind. I then compared his mind to a beautiful parterre from
which he was enabled to pluck the most gorgeous and fanciful flowers, in
his progress, to enrich and embellish his subject. Lavater would have
pronounced him an orator from the vivid flashing of his eye and the deli-
cate beauty of his classic mouth.
192
GENERAL 1AMES M. VARNUM
In August, 1787, General Yarnum became one of the directors in the
14 Ohio Company oi Associates," and in the following October was ap-
HONORABLE JOSEPH BRADLEY VARNUM, I750-182I.
[From a painting by Elliott in possession of James M. Varnum, of New York.']
pointed by Congress one of the judges of the territory northwest of the
Ohio. He arrived at Marietta, Ohio, early in June, 1788, to assume his
GENERAL JAMES M. VARNUM 1 93
official duties, and on the Fourth of July delivered an oration there which
was subsequently published by the Ohio Company. The oration was short,
but contained many beauties both in sentiment and language.
He assisted Governor Le Clair and the other officials in framing a code
of laws for the territory, but this was his last official act ; for his health,
which had been declining when he left home, rapidly became worse, and
the disease from which he suffered terminated fatally on the 10th day of
January, 1789.
General Varnum's career was active but brief. Admitted to the bar at
twenty-two, he was a colonel in the army at twenty-six, a brigadier-general
at twenty-eight, resigned his commission and was elected to Congress at
thirty-one, appointed judge and emigrated to the West at thirty-nine, and
died at forty. He was one of the original members of the Society of the
Cincinnati, in 1783, and the second president of the Rhode Island society
of that distinguished Order, presiding for the last time at the annual
meeting, July 4, 1787.
General Varnum's next younger brother, the Honorable Joseph B.
Varnum, of Massachusetts, was born at Dracut, Massachusetts, 29th of
February, 1750, and died there nth September, 1821. He was appointed,
in 1776, captain of the 10th company, Seventh Regiment of Massachusetts
Militia; and was a state senator from 1785 to 1795, inclusive, and in 1817,
1818, 1820, and 1821.
During " Shay's rebellion " he marched at the head of his company, and
was on duty at Pittsfield, when General Lincoln highly commended him for
his patriotic example and services. He served also as sheriff of Middlesex,
and justice of the court of Common Pleas, and chief justice of the court
of General Sessions of the same county, and was a member of the Mas-
sachusetts state convention which ratified the United States Constitution.
On April 4, 1 787, he was appointed colonel of the Seventh Regiment, Mas-
sachusetts militia; on November 22, 1802, promoted to a brigadier-gen-
eral in the Third Division, and on June 12, 1805, was created major-general
of the same division. From 1795 to 181 1 he was a Representative in the
National Congress, and was Speaker of the House during the Tenth and
Eleventh Congresses, after which he was elected United States Senator
from Massachusetts, holding his seat six years, from 181 1 to 18 17; and
was president pro tempore of the Senate, and acting Vice-President of the
United States, from December 6, 1813, to April 17, 1814.
HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
Americans in general fondly believe that California was seized by their
government just in time to save her from the grasp of England. Indeed,
some color of truth is given to this belief by the writings of travelers who
visited the province. They had praised California highly, and had pre-
dicted that she would not long remain a Mexican possession. And they
had shown what an advantage it would be to her and to England to have
her under the British flag, rather than under the stars and stripes. Popu-
lar writers had echoed these sentiments and had ridiculed the claims of the
United States' to any exclusive rights there. Some of the English holders
of Mexican bonds were in favor of accepting California lands in settlement
of their claims, but this project had died out at the beginning of the Mex-
ican war. No official utterance is at hand to indicate that England had
the slightest intention or desire of obtaining California by conquest or pur-
chase, and no evidence to show that she encouraged the colonization plans
of the bondholders. The bulky testimony in favor of the English scheme
is made up wholly of mere statements of belief by men who had no means
of penetrating the court secrets in London. It is apparent that England
did not desire California at the price of serious complications with the
United States, and she seems never to have had a definite plan of making
the territory a British possession.
England, however, made no secret of her opposition to the further ex-
tension of American territory on the Pacific. She wished to prevent it, if
she could do so by diplomacy, or by any other means than war. There-
fore the theory that she contemplated a protectorate has more plausibil-
ity. Her squadron and that of the United States were hovering about
Mazatlan when the war with Mexico began, and Commodore Sloat, the
American commander, was under standing and positive orders to take
California as soon as hostilities opened. Was the English commander also
under instructions to raise his flag at Monterey, or was Admiral Seymour
likely to assume the responsibility of such an act? Many writers have
told of the race up the coast between the two flag-ships, and have assumed
that California was won because Sloat reached the goal first. But the dif-
ferent accounts of this race hopelessly conflict with each other, and the con-
test evidently had no other foundation than in vivid imaginations. While
it is bold to assert that previous writers have fallen into error in regard to
HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
195
the protectorate, yet, in the absence of all positive proofs, the attendant
circumstances seem to be against them. A careful examination of the
facts at hand almost irresistibly gives the conclusion that the danger of
British intervention was a mere bugbear.
Had Admiral Seymour designed to take possession of California as soon
as war was declared between Mexico and the United States, the course of
the American commander gave him ample opportunity. The gallant com-
modore did not act with all the dash and brilliance that commonly have
been ascribed to him. His instructions from Bancroft, Secretary of the
Navy, were positive, and indicate — what writers have repeatedly inferred
from the course of naval operations on the Pacific — that naval commanders
there were for a number of years under standing orders to occupy Califor-
nia in case of war with Mexico, and in any event to prevent the country
from falling into the hands of England or France. On June 24, 1845,
after Congress had ratified the measure which Mexico had declared would
be a casus belli, Bancroft wrote " secret and confidential instructions" to
Commodore Sloat : "The Mexican ports on the Pacific are said to be
open and defenceless. If you ascertain with certainty that Mexico has de-
clared war against the United States, you will at once possess yourself of
the port of San Francisco, and blockade or occupy such other ports as your
forces may permit. Yet . . . you will be careful to preserve, if pos-
sible, the most friendly relations with the inhabitants, and . . . will
encourage them to adopt a course of neutrality." On August 5 and Octo-
ber 17 of the same year, Bancroft called Sloat's attention anew to the im-
portance of acting upon his instructions promptly. In the first of these
the phrase "in the event of war" was used, instead of "if you ascertain
with certainty that Mexico has declared war," and in the second the term
"in the event of actual hostilities" was used.
On May 13, 1846, Bancroft wrote to Sloat: "The state of things"
alluded to in my letter of June 24, 1845, nas occurred. You will therefore
now be governed by the instructions therein contained, and carry into ef-
fect the orders then communicated, with energy and promptitude." Two
days later he wrote : " You will consider the most important public object
to be to take and to hold possession of San Francisco, and this you will do
without fail. You will also take possession of Mazatlan and of Monterey,
one or both, as your force will permit. If information received here is
correct, you can establish friendly relations between your squadron and the
inhabitants of each of these three places. . . . You will, as opportunity
offers, conciliate the confidence of the people of California, and also in
Sonora, toward the government of the United States ; and you will en-
196 HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
deavor to render their relations with the United States as intimate and
friendly as possible. It is important that you should hold possession, at
least of San Francisco, even while you encourage the people to neutrality,
self-government, and friendship. " The following passages are from a similar
communication of the 8th of June : " It is rumored that the province of
California is well disposed to accede to friendly relations. You will, if
possible endeavor to establish the supremacy of the American flag with-
out any strife with the people of California. If California separates her-
self from our enemy, the central Mexican government, and establishes a
government of its own under the auspices of the American flag, you will
take such measures as will best promote the attachment of the people of
California to the United States. You will bear in mind generally that
this country desires to find in California a friend, and not an enemy ; to
be connected with it by near ties ; to hold possession of it, at least during
the war ; and to hold that possession, if possible, with the consent of its
inhabitants."
These instructions of 1846, however, did not reach the Pacific before
Monterey had been taken, but in spirit they had been followed out, and in
some instances with remarkable fidelity to detail. The policy of the ad-
ministration in regard to California was, therefore, thoroughly understood.
The instructions of 1846 do more than show an intention to take military
possession of California ; they indicate a purpose to retain possession
permanently. And in January, 1847, the Secretary of the Navy, in a com-
munication to the commander of the Pacific fleet, " foresees no contin-
gency in which the United States will ever surrender or relinquish posses-
sion of the Californias."
On account of difficulties that might arise from the Oregon question,
the American and English squadrons were closely watching each other in
the Pacific. Sloat, at least, was waiting for the announcement of Mexi-
can hostilities that he might make a move on California. Such an an-
nouncement he received from the interior of Mexico on May 17, 1846,
and he at once sent the Cyane north, bearing a confidential communication
to Larkin, the United States consul at Monterey. In this he stated that
he would follow immediately with the remainder of his vessels. But
though his first act was prompt enough to rival English energy, Sloat
changed his mind, and did not start for California. It does not appear
that he had received any contradictory reports in regard to the opening of
war, or that he had any other reasons for delay except his natural in-
decision of character. On May 31st he heard of General Taylor's battles
of the 8th and 9th on the Rio Grande ; this news so restored his wavering
HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
197
determination, that on the same day he wrote to the Secretary of the Navy :
"I have received such intelligence as I think will justify my acting upon
your order of the 24th of June, and shall sail immediately to see what can
be done." His renewed enthusiasm did not last long, although about this
time he dispatched the Levant to Monterey.
On June 5, according to the log of the flag-ship, the news of Taylor's
battles was confirmed, and the capture of Matamoros was announced.
This, however, was by no means enough for the irresolute commodore, and
he wrote next day to Secretary Bancroft : " I have, upon more mature
reflection, come to the conclusion that your instructions of the 24th of
June last, and every subsequent order, will not justify my taking possession
of any part of California, or any hostile measures against Mexico (notwith-
standing their attack upon our troops), as neither party have declared war.
I shall therefore, in conformity with those instructions, be careful to avoid
any act of aggression until I am certain one or the other party have done
so, or until I find that our squadron in the Gulf have commenced offensive
operations." He announced, however, his intention of proceeding to
California to await further intelligence. This extraordinary determination
was of course not approved at Washington, and brought out a severe rep-
rimand for the dilatory commander. " The department willingly believes
in the purity of your intentions ; but your anxiety not to do wrong has
led you into a most unfortunate and unwarranted inactivity," wrote Ban-
croft, after dwelling on the previous orders and hints to act promptly ;
and on the same day Sloat was relieved of command, in accordance with
his own earlier request on account of failing health, " and for other
reasons."
Yet again Sloat changed his mind, in time practically to nullify the
censure of the government and to escape the dishonor which his removal
would have involved him in. In a report he writes : " On the 7th of June
I received at Mazatlan information that the Mexican troops, six or seven
thousand strong, had by order of the Mexican government invaded the
territory of the United States north of the Rio Grande, and had attacked
the forces under General Taylor ; and that the squadron of the United
States were blockading the coast of Mexico on the Gulf. These hostilities
I considered would justify my commencing offensive operations on the
west coast. I therefore sailed on the 8th in the Savannah for the coast of
California, to carry out the orders of the department of the 24th of June,
1845, leaving the Warren at Mazatlan to bring me any dispatches or in-
formation that might reach there."
Meanwhile, in California, a new and strange factor had entered the
IOS HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
problem of the conquest of that province. It was the course of Fremont,
in command oi his exploring expedition. As he was in the service of the
army department, his course could be justified only by instructions from
his government, which were a new and radical departure from the policy
outlined to the navy and to Larkin at Monterey. The settled policy
hitherto had been to conciliate the Californians, and by securing their
good will to induce them voluntarily to declare their independence of
Mexico, as a preparatory step to joining their fortunes with our Repub-
lic. This had been Larkin's work, and he had been so successful that a
majority of the leading Californians had been brought to favor the plan.
In general, a most friendly feeling was entertained toward the United
States ; but Fremont's movements were out of harmony with this plan,
and tended to nullify what Larkin had accomplished.
At the beginning of 1846, Fremont's exploring party was encamped in
the interior of California, and leaving his men there he visited Larkin at
Monterey. Here a note was addressed to Larkin by Prefect Castro, ask-
ing why United States troops had entered the department, and why their
leader had come to Monterey. Fremont's explanation, transmitted
through the consul on the same day, was that he had come by order of his
government to survey a practicable route to the Pacific ; that he had left
his company of fifty hired men, not soldiers, on the frontier of the depart-
ment to rest themselves and their animals ; that he had visited Monte-
rey to obtain clothing and funds for the purchase of animals and provis-
ions ; and that when his men were recruited he intended to continue his
journey to Oregon. This explanation was satisfactory to such an extent
that no objections were made, but Governor Pico directed that a close
watch be kept on the explorer's movements, with a view of learning
whether he had any other design than that of preparing for a trip to
Oregon.
The only license given to Fremont was that in the implied permission to
remain, because he was not ordered to leave the country at once. The
current version, given by a number of writers, that Castro gave his word
of honor, and indulged in some bluster about the " word of a Mexican offi-
cer," when urged to put his permission in writing, is pure invention. Fre-
mont returned to his encampment, and a week later commenced his
march. Instead of going northward through the broad San Joaquin Val-
ley toward Oregon, he turned westerly, crossed the Santa Cruz Mountains,
and entered the Santa Clara Valley. By this act he had broken his agree-
ment with the authorities, and had forfeited every right conferred by Cas-
tro's promise, even if that promise had been as direct and definite as ever
HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED 199
has been claimed. His march to the coast, without receiving or even ask-
ing permission, was an insult and a menace to the California authorities.
Some days after entering this valley, he received the following order from
General Castro : " This morning at seven, information reached this office
that you and your party have entered the settlements of this department ;
and this being prohibited by our laws, I find myself obliged to notify you
that on receipt of this you must immediately retire beyond the limits of
the department, such being the orders of the supreme government, which
the undersigned is under the obligation of enforcing."
Fremont did not even vouchsafe a written reply to these orders, but
merely sent back a verbal refusal to obey. Then he moved his camp to
the summit of the Gavilan Peak, hastily erected fortifications, and raised
over his fort the flag of the United States. It was a hasty, foolish, and
altogether unjustifiable step — unless his government had instructed him to
provoke hostilities with California. But he did not hold his position long.
Seeing that the Californians were gathering in force to attack him, he
abandoned his fort after a few days, and commenced a retreat into the
interior. He took his course northward through the interior valleys to
Oregon. Learning, when he had reached the northern end of Klamath
Lake, that a United States officer, with dispatches, was two days behind,
he started back with a number of his men, and after riding some twenty-
five miles met Lieutenant A. H. Gillespie.
The lieutenant had come as a messenger from Washington, with an
important dispatch to Consul Larkin, and brought also, besides his letters
of introduction, a packet containing private correspondence, addressed by
Senator Thomas H. Benton to Fremont, his son-in-law. The exact pur-
port of Benton's letters has never been made public ; whether they sup-
plemented Gillespie's oral communications, and went further in their
political significance than the official instructions, is a question that always
has been wrapped in mystery. But Gillespie's instructions, which he was
directed to show to Fremont, are represented as being identical in purport
with those that he had brought from the State Department to Larkin.
After meeting this messenger, Fremont returned to California with his
entire party.
Soon after Fremont's return from Oregon, the American settlers' revolt
broke out against the authority of California. As to the exact nature of
his connection with this uprising there has been some difference of opinion ;
but the weight of evidence, direct and circumstantial, goes to show that,
while he held himself somewhat aloof from the masses, he secretly con-
spired with a few leaders to bring about an outbreak, and promised the
200 HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
full support of himself and his party in case it should be needed. It is
stated by William B. Ide, one of the leaders in the revolutionary move-
ment, that Fremont made known his plan of conquest as follows: u First,
select a dozen men who have nothing to lose, but everything to gain.
Second, encourage them to commit depredations against General Castro,
the usurper, and thus supply the camp with horses necessary for a trip to
the States. Third, to make prisoners of some of the principal men, and
thus provoke Castro to strike the first blow in a war with the United
States." Although Ide wrote under a strong feeling, amounting almost to
a mania, that he had been robbed by Fremont of the honor of having
been at the head of the revolution, there is little doubt that his statements
are substantially correct. All the evidence goes to show that Fremont
was one of the original plotters of the revolt, but that he cautiously
avoided remarks and promises which might, in certain contingencies, be
used to his disadvantage later.
Believing that they were supported by Fremont, the American settlers
captured the town of Sonoma, and raised their flag of revolt there. Three
prisoners, among whom was General Vallejo, were sent to Sutter's Fort,
near which Fremont was encamped. When the prisoners were brought
into his presence, Fremont's words and manner were reserved and mysteri-
ous. He denied that he was in any way responsible for what had been
done, when Vallejo demanded to know for what offence and by what
authority he had been arrested. He declared that they were prisoners of
the people, who had been driven to revolt for self-protection. He refused
to accept their paroles, and sent them on the same night to be locked up in
the fort. Watching the turn of events, Fremont remained at his camp,
waiting to see whether it would be necessary for him to interfere at all.
But at length messengers came, announcing that Sonoma wras threatened
by the Californians, and he felt called upon to act and redeem his promises.
Accordingly, he started for Sonoma with a force of some ninety men, and
arrived there two days later. This was his first open co-operation with the
insurgents ; though a month later, when the insurrection seemed to have
been successfully merged into the conquest, he virtually claimed in his let-
ters that all had been done by him or under his orders. Some two weeks
after he had taken the decisive step which identified him with the revolu-
tionary movement, news came that Sloat had taken Monterey, and raised
the stars and stripes there ; this ended the local revolt, and brought the
American government on the scene.
As Fremont had twice during that year indulged in warlike demonstra-
tions against the Californians, it is interesting to know whether he was act-
HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED 201
ing as an irresponsible filibuster chief, or whether his instructions from
the government justified his course. He has admitted that his official
authority came through Gillespie's communications, which were required
to be the same as Larkin's instructions, and these from their nature pre-
clude the idea that his earlier acts could have been in obedience to orders
essentially different. The nature of Larkin's instructions has been a
jealously guarded secret by the Department of State — it has never been
voluntarily revealed. And it is no wonder ; for they conferred extraor-
dinary powers on Larkin, who ostensibly was merely the United States
consul at Monterey. The instructions were written by James Buchanan,
Secretary of State under President Polk, and indicate the full policy of the
administration in regard to California. They sweep away the foundations
of Fremont's pretensions, and show his disobedient conduct to have been
inspired by personal ambition, inflamed with the hope of being the con-
queror of California. Larkin's instructions ran as follows : " The future
destiny of that country is a subject of anxious solicitude for the govern-
ment and people of the United States. The interests of our commerce and
our whale fisheries on the Pacific demand that you should exert the great-
est vigilance in discovering and defeating any attempts which maybe made
by foreign governments to acquire a control over that country. In the
contest between Mexico and California we can take no part, unless the
former should commence hostilities against the United States ; but should
California assert and maintain her independence, we shall render her all
the kind offices in our power as a sister republic." While the exercise of
compulsion or improper influence to acquire territory would be repugnant
to the sentiments of the President, " he would not view with indifference
the transfer of California to Great Britain or any other European power.
The system of colonization by foreign monarchies on the North American
continent must and will be resisted by the United States." * This was in
reply to a communication of Larkin, and the Secretary urged him to incite
the Californians against foreign designs. " Whilst I repeat that this gov-
ernment does not, under existing circumstances, intend to interfere between
Mexico and California, they would vigorously interfere to prevent the lat-
ter from becoming a British or French colony. In this they might surely
expect the aid of the Californians themselves. Whilst the President will
make no effort and use no influence to induce the Californians to become
one of the free and independent States of this Union, yet if the people should
desire to unite their destiny with ours, they would be received as brethren,
* This paper presents a clear, succinct, and admirably condensed view of the chief facts on
which Mr. Bancroft's judgment has been founded in his valuable history of California. — Editor.
Vol. XVIII.-No. 3—14
202 HOW CALIFORNIA WAS SECURED
whenever this can be done without affording Mexico any just cause of
complaint. Their true policy for the present, in regard to this question, is
to let events take their own course, unless an attempt should be made to
transfer them without their consent either to Great Britain or France.
This they ought to resist by all the means in their power, as ruinous to
their best interests and destructive of their freedom and independence.
In addition to your consular functions, the President has thought proper
to appoint you a confidential agent in California ; and you may consider
the present dispatch as your authority for acting in this character. The
confidence which he reposes in your patriotism and discretion is evinced by
conferring upon you this delicate and important trust. You will take care
not to awaken the jealousy of the French and English agents there by as-
suming any other than your consular character." In conclusion Larkin
was referred to Gillespie, with whom he was to co-operate.
/9Cc^^- /V/2'
San Francisco, California.
OUR REVOLUTIONARY THUNDER
A cannon which had seen service throughout the Revolution was after-
ward, by order of Congress, inscribed, " The Hancock." This is one of
four guns which constituted the whole train of field artillery possessed by
the British colonies of North America at the commencement of the war,
19th April, 1775. Some weeks after that date, when General Ward took
command of the army besieging Boston, he found only one six pounder and
half a dozen three pounders. The revolutionists, however, soon captured
the guns in most of the royal forts, securing a greater booty than anywhere
else at Ticonderoga. But for the two hundred pieces there captured, the
siege of Boston must have been a fiasco. Whenever Gage heard a Yankee
battery he must have said, "That's my thunder!"
Yet not many field guns — only six at Trenton — were taken from the
British before the surrender of Burgoyne, two years and a half after fight-
ing began. Eleven pieces were lost at Brandywine. Running the British
blockade with guns bought abroad was tedious, hazardous, and ruinously
expensive. Accordingly, there was no more unexpected, rude awakening
in the war to British ears than the roar of so many American cannon.
"Where do you get your big guns?" was asked of a Massachusetts pris-
oner in England. His answer was, "We make them ourselves." The next-
question was, "Where did you get your patterns?" He is said to have
replied, " From Burgoyne at Saratoga." He might have mentioned earlier
models obtained at Ticonderoga and elsewhere.
The question where our Revolutionary thunder came from has not been
fitly met by historians. We rise from Bancroft and Hildreth ready to ex-
change a good deal of the one's pessimism and the other's optimism for
a chapter we do not find, on the domestic manufacture of Revolutionary
artillery. Hence the following details cannot be thought beneath the dig-
nity of history.
Three or four Massachusetts foundries turned out Revolutionary can-
non. One was at Bridgewater. Here, Hugh Orr, whose establishment had
already a quarter of a century's standing, produced a great number of iron
and several pieces of brass ordnance from three to thirty-two pounders.
These pieces were cast solid and bored — a novelty. In Springfield the gov-
ernment works were begun in 1778, and some cannon were cast there dur-
204 0UR REVOLUTIONARY THUNDER
ing the war. Before the close of that contest cannon were also cast in
Abington. Cannon for the Revolutionary navy came from Hope furnace,
in the town of Scituate, Rhode Island. The Connecticut council of safety,
before the war had long continued, expended ,£1,450 on a furnace in Salis-
bury to cast cannon, and employed a corps of fifty-nine men to conduct it.
The furnace of a tory in Lakeville, Litchfield county, was made to produce
large quantities of cannon for the continental army. There is documen-
tary evidence that at least these six New England towns indicated their
rebelliousness in thunderous tones. It is hard to find any single town in
New York which can make this boast, though the Sterling works in Orange
county had cast cannon in the earlier French war, and perhaps did in the
later struggle. New Jersey has a better record. Her furnaces in Morris
county, at Hibernia and Mount Hope, were noted as yielding the ord-
nance of which the army of Washington had such pressing need. In Penn-
sylvania during the Revolution, Warwick furnace was very active in cast-
ing cannon, some of which were buried when the British drew nigh in
1777. The owner of Elizabeth furnace in Lancaster county, in payment
for sundry great guns, received German prisoners, at one time forty-two
and at another twenty-eight, at ,£30 per head. He had discovered that
they knew better how to make guns than how to use them. Cornwall, now
the oldest charcoal furnace in the Union, also yielded its quota of Revo-
lutionary ordnance, and the owner of the Reading works, after a few ex-
periments, made an output of one new gun every day. No state but
Pennsylvania can clearly show four cannon-casting establishments in our
first great struggle. Near Baltimore, however, cannon were cast in 1780,
at Northampton, and from Ridgeley's furnace near it small cannon had
been ordered by Congress in 1776. In the next year the Hughes Brothers,
in Frederick county, furnished a thousand tons of cannon, for which they
were paid §30,666.
In Virginia the only cannon foundry, so far as known, was at Westham,
six miles above Richmond, and destroyed by Arnold in 1781. As to
North Carolina, there were iron-works on Deep run, for two years' use of
which in casting ordnance, etc., the provincial congress were ready to pay
£$,ooo. In South Carolina Colonel Hill cast cannon for Revolutionary
whigs at his iron-works, which so enraged the tories that they burned them.
This burning cut the patriots to the heart so that one of their Scotch
ministers said in his prayer: " Good Lord! if ye had na suffered the cruel
tories to burn Belly Hell's [Billy Hill's] iron-works, we would na have
asked any mair favors at thy hands. Amen ! " These particulars attest
the truth of the assertion of Governor Penn of Pennsylvania, when before
OUR REVOLUTIONARY THUNDER 205
the house of Peers in 1775, that " the art of casting cannon had been car-
ried to great perfection in the colonies."
Mention was made above of certain brass guns as cast in Bridgewater.
Probably every furnace, which had plenty of brass, may have experi-
mented in' that style of manufacture. There is now in the arsenal at
Hartford, Connecticut, a brass cannon inscribed " B. Hanks, 1790." In
that year the casting of brass cannon was commenced in Waterbury.
Can any Connecticut brass piece be shown to have originated at an earlier
era? But it was in Pennsylvania that most brass guns seem to have been
turned out. Two brass guns made for the government were tested at the
Reading furnace in December, 1776. One burst, and the other stood the
test well. In November, 1776, the Pennsylvania Council of Safety had
spent more than £77 on their brass cannon foundry, and in the first days
of 1777, General Knox, writing from Morristown, inquires whether brass
pieces were in making at Philadelphia — and urges exertions to forward
the business to the utmost. He even sends a draft or drawing of a how-
itzer in his camp, as it was intended to cast some of the same sort in Phil-
adelphia. The council appointed a commission to engage experts in cast-
ing brass ordnance, and authorized them to draw on the treasurer for all the
necessary expenses. On June 1 6th of that year, James Byers, who had cast
brass guns for the government, was ordered to hold himself in readiness
to remove with his apparatus at a moment's warning on the approach of
the British. On August 19, he asks to be allowed to use State copper —
which came from a mine on French creek and made bronze-work easier in
Pennsylvania than in most provinces. In the Fourth of July procession of
1788 in Philadelphia, there was a car which bore a furnace in full blast,
that finished a three-inch brass howitzer on the way, which at the halting-
place was mounted and fired.
Seeing specimens of American artillery created in the first years of the
war, the royal leaders might have learned a lesson from Milton's angels.
Those celestials battling with devils who had extemporized similar hollow
engines, would have retired from the field, as Milton says, but for their
power to pluck up mountains and bury those machines deeper than the
mines where their ores had been digged.
Madison, Wisconsin.
UNION, SFXESSION, ABOLITION
AS ILLUSTRATED IN THE CAREERS OF WEBSTER, CALHOUN, SUMNER
Two opposing principles strove for mastery in the formation of our
Constitution — one to make us a nation, the other a confederacy of nations.
Neither principle was victorious — both are in the Constitution — working
together, often not as brothers, but as a badly matched team. Sometimes
one principle has been in the ascendency, sometimes the other — sometimes
they have been in deadly conflict. In the organization of the government
under Washington the national principle was in the ascendant. Hamilton
was master. The great departments were formed on the national princi-
ple. But the act of the new Congress of special value to the national
sentiment was the judiciary, which in effect made the national judiciary
the final arbiter on all questions that could come before it. No other
act of Congress had so much influence as this in consolidating the Union.
In after times Calhoun saw this, and bitterly lamented it — indeed, would
have repealed the law, but it was too firmly anchored in the Constitution,
being an act of the fathers. If anything was wanting to make this act
effective, that want was supplied by the appointment to the Supreme
bench of John Marshall. His long and illustrious career on the bench
was devoted with a single eye to the founding of a nation.
In 1798 even Jefferson could write: " If on a temporary superiority of
one party the other is to resort to a scission of the Union, no federal gov-
ernment can ever exist. If, to rid ourselves of the present rule of Massa-
chusetts and Connecticut, we break the Union, will the evil stop there?
Suppose the New England States alone cut off, will our nature be changed ?
Are we not men still to the South of that and with all the passions of
men ? Immediately we shall see a Pennsylvania and a Virginia party arise
in the residuary confederacy, and the public mind will be distracted with
the same party spirit. What a game, too, will the one party have in their
hands by eternally threatening the other, that, unless they do so and so,
they will join their Northern neighbors.
If we reduce our Union to Virginia and North Carolina, immediately
the conflict will be established between the representatives of these two
States, and they will end by breaking into their simple units.
UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION 207
Seeing, therefore, that an association of men who will not quarrel with
one another is a thing which never yet existed, from the greatest confed-
eracy of nations down to a town meeting or a vestry — seeing that we must
have somebody to quarrel with, I had rather keep our New England asso-
ciates for that purpose than to see our bickerings transferred to others."
Had Jefferson sent these words, written in the same year, instead of his
resolutions of nullification, to Kentucky, history might have been written
otherwise. But he did not, and in his resolutions the monster Secession
was born.
The struggle between these principles might have extended indefinitely
and no harm have come but for the introduction of a disturbing force.
When Chief Justice Taney announced in his famous decision that in
the opinion of the fathers the blacks " had no rights which the white man
was bound to respect," he was severely denounced. But did he not speak
the truth? If the corner-stone of our Constitution was not slavery, it
surely was not freedom to the black man ; it ignored the slave. But his
cry would not down at its bidding. If, indeed, this cry was faint in the
beginning, it slowly increased, swelling at length into a volume — and the
crisis came.
The mantle of Hamilton and Marshall rested on Webster, that of Jef-
ferson on Calhoun. Seward and Chase were, indeed, anti-slavery men ; but
Sumner, in an especial degree, was the abolition statesman. To indicate
the inter-play in relation to the war of these sentiments — Union, Secession,
Abolition — especially as illustrated in the careers of Webster, Calhoun, and
Sumner, is the aim of this paper.
Webster stands alone among American orators ; there is no second. He
belongs to that small class of orators whose speeches, great when spoken,
remain great ever afterward. Charles James Fox thought this impossible,
and was accustomed to say of a speech which read well that it must have
been a failure when spoken. There is much ground for this opinion.
Many famous orators live only in tradition — their speeches, when preserved,
are unreadable, became unreadable even while they lived. Yet the speeches
of Demosthenes, Cicero, and Burke seem, with the flow of time, to have
an ever-increasing interest.
Burke was never more powerful in politics or literature than to-day.
For us, in this small class of orators, Webster takes his place as of his.
right.
His themes have an enduring value. They relate to the Union and the
Constitution. His expositions of the latter, clothed in his apt phrase, will
be the study and delight of the inquiring and ingenious youth from age to
COS UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION
age. It is not possible to overestimate the value of his stirring declama-
tions in behalf of the Union.
The Union, to him, was not only a principle, but a passion. These
declamations, spoken by the myriad youth of the land, of the generation
now rapidly passing away, shed abroad in their hearts the ardent love of
the Union that made the war for its preservation a success. His words
were sounding in their ears when they left their homes for the tented
field. They were present to them in the great crises, and their consola-
tion in the last moments of the supreme sacrifice. " They died that the
Union might live." Webster's speech, " The Constitution not a Compact,"
is the master-effort of American oratory.
The abolitionists never rightly appreciated Webster's work. He was,
indeed, an anti-slavery man, had complained that Wilmot " stole his thun-
der," but he was above all things a Union man. When abolition seemed
to him to threaten the Union, he subordinated his anti-slavery sentiments
to the Union sentiment, " conquered his prejudices against slavery," and
under the sting of unmerited rebuke — it may be, under the promptings of
an unworthy ambition — spoke words that we would gladly forget.
Yet we may not forget that perhaps the success of the Union and
abolition cause was secured by the postponement of the conflict from 1850
to i860. Certain it is that abolition owed its success to that very Union
sentiment which Mr. Webster had done so much to create.
Of the emancipation of the slave, the abolitionist is usually awarded
the exclusive honor. But this is not accurate. When slavery stood in the
way of the restoration of the Union, the proclamation of emancipation was
issued ; and that this was not a " Pope's bull against the comet," was due
to the soldier who, to restore the Union, fought for emancipation.
It was the good fortune of the abolitionist that the Union sentiment
came to his aid. Had the abolitionist had his way, it might have been
otherwise ; the rebellion might have begun in Massachusetts instead of
South Carolina. In that event the Union sentiment would have warred
against the abolitionist and crushed him. It was the madness of slavery
and not the wisdom of the abolitionist that gave him his opportunity and
secured emancipation.
This Union sentiment for which Webster labored, and to the teaching
of which he devoted his life, has results not limited to his own country.
Through it and the consequent consolidation of the Union by the great
civil war, the practicability of a single government embracing a continent
seems established.
A few years ago it was an accepted axiom of British politics that her
UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION 209
colonies were only temporarily attached to her, and that in due time, like
ripe fruit, they would drop from the parent stem.
But under the influence of the American example since the war a new
philosophy has arisen, and the " Greater Britain " may become a reality —
an influence of the success of the war for the Union not anticipated by
any one pending the conflict. Yet the ascendency of the Union sentiment
was not attained without a contest.
Mr. Calhoun was the first of our greater statesmen who dedicated him-
self to a single idea. That eager, anxious, penetrating face, once seen in life
or picture never to be forgotten, indicates the man. Here passion subor-
dinates reason. In the line of his desire his mind is clear, penetrating,
logical, fertile of resources, and borne along with the intense force of an
absorbing passion. But the reasons and facts outside of or against the line
of his desire seem to wholly escape him. The absolute integrity of his
character, its singleness of purpose, the ease with which he could in con-
versation or debate overcome antagonists, gave him unbounded confidence
in himself. Goethe tells us that the individual is powerless unless he labor
in harmony with the stream of tendency of his time. Mr. Calhoun, with-
out a thought of fear, entered the lists as the champion of slavery against
a world in arms. Nor in his long struggle did it ever occur to him that he
was fighting a losing battle. After every repulse he returned to the strug-
gle with unshaken fortitude and unimpaired forces. But it was not
always repulse with him. Often the victory seemed to be his. And when
his labors ceased — and they ceased only with life (1850) — the result was not
evident. He gained much. When he began the struggle, the South was
more than half anti-slavery. No one advocated slavery per se. They
viewed slavery as their fathers viewed it — as a moral and social evil, but a
necessary evil. They deplored it, but saw not how to get rid of it. Yet all
agreed that it could not always endure, though how it would end they
could not foresee. These ideas Calhoun revolutionized. He taught the
South that slavery was the natural and normal relation of the black man
to the white, of labor to capital ; that instead of being a curse to the South,
slavery was a blessing ; that it exempted the South from those social strug-
gles between labor and capital so threatening to free society. He taught
the South that slavery was not a sin, but a Christian institution, which it
was their religious duty to maintain and transmit to their posterity unim-
paired ; that the opposition to it the North, so far as it was honest, was a
dangerous fanaticism which they were to resist by every means that God
and Nature had put in their power.
He bound the South together as a band of brothers in the defense of
2IO UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION
their imperiled cause, and infused into them his ardent enthusiasm. Nay,
more, he led the North captive. Timid capital and trade submitted to his
demands. The Church became his handmaid and did his work. Religion
and commerce, hand-in-hand, at his behest, pursued the panting fugitive
and persecuted unto death the abolitionist.
To slavery he subordinated every other consideration. He was once
a Union man : in his early days had advocated internal improvements at
the expense of the general Government, for the reason that they would
" consolidate " the Union. But his was a Union subservient to slavery.
His assertion, repeated everywhere, in season and out of season, that if the
Union became hostile to slavery the South would dissolve it, and his con-
stant assertion of the right of secession and of the rights of the States, famil-
iarized the Southern mind with a broken Union — taught it that the general
government was, in a sense, a foreign and hostile power. Visions also of a
Southern slave-holding military oligarchy crossed the imagination — a great
standing army and navy to arise ; the slave-holding class to officer them ;
the " poor white trash " to furnish the soldiers ; and the negroes to do the
work — raise the rice and cotton. Thus would arise a mighty, aggressive
military aristocracy, and the world's story be differently written.
Thus, under the teaching of Calhoun the South was educated to dis-
union, while under the teachings of Webster, the North was taught to love
the Union.
Between these sentiments, as between slavery and freedom, there arose
an irrepressible conflict, which found its solution only in the conflict of
arms. Before this came Calhoun passed away.
Hitherto, in the play of the Union and abolition sentiments, the latter
had yielded to the former. This was, perhaps, well — the time had not yet
come when Union and freedom could coexist.
But now with the superior growth of the North — immigration avoiding
the slave States — the time had come when the North felt strong enough to
resist the aggression of slavery and yet maintain the Union. The Re-
publican party, organized in 1854, became the representative of this new
policy ; and the Whig party of the North was merged into it.
While Calhoun was proclaiming South the beatitudes of slavery, a few
obscure men North began the abolition movement.
These men, in print and speech and picture, appealed to those senti-
ments innate in man — sympathy with the oppressed and indignation against
the oppressor.
Silently their work went on, and before it was hardly suspected the
hearts of thousands were infected with abolition sentiments. The dread of
UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION 211
disunion and of the loss of Southern trade stifled in the hearts of other
thousands the humaner sentiments and awakened a fierce persecution of
the abolitionists. " Be of good comfort," said the Oxford martyr, as they
applied the flame to the fagot — " be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and
play the man. We shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in
England as, I trust, shall never be put out." Nor was it ; nor was aboli-
tion suppressed.
Very soon the North became deeply affected with the abolition senti-
ment. There was as yet little or no effort to give to it political organiza-
tion. The abolitionist was content to sow the seed and leave others to
gather the fruit. There was a difficulty in the way of political organization.
While the number affected with anti-slavery sentiment was very great, yet
the number that would assert this sentiment in violation of the Constitu-
tion was very small. The thing desired was opportunity to strike slavery
within the forms of the Constitution. The aggressiveness of slavery gave
the opportunity. Its extension was pressed. The Republican party was
organized to resist this. It was in the beginning a timid party ; it was
careful to limit its opposition to slavery ; it disclaimed all affiliation with
the abolitionist ; it declared that there was no constitutional power to inter-
fere with slavery in the States where it existed, and that it had no inclina-
tion to exercise such power ; it enforced the Fugitive Slave law, but it was
firm in its opposition to the extension of slavery. Here its pathway was
clear; it violated no constitutional provision ; it was in the line of the tradi-
tions of the republic ; it was the policy of the fathers, who had enacted the
ordinance of 1787 prohibiting slavery in the Northwest Territory. The
position of the Republican party was strong, and it maintained it with un-
flinching firmness.
In all the trying days following the election of Mr. Lincoln, when states
were seceding, peace conventions assembling, and Crittenden compromises
were abroad, it maintained its integrity, accepted the dread issue of war, and
bore the banner of Union and freedom in triumph over disunion and slavery.
The chief architects of the Republican party were Chase and Seward,
Chase bringing to the new party its Democratic element, and Seward its
Whig element. Chase was first in point of time. He early felt the neces-
sity of organization to give effect to the anti-slavery sentiment. He called
ward and city and state meetings, and finally the Buffalo convention. His
unvarying " platform " was an appeal to all who who were opposed to the
extension of slavery to come together, whatever their opinions on other
questions might be.
Mr. Seward was loath to abandon the Whig party, but when he did he
212 UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION
burned his bridges behind him, cutting off all hope of return in the proclama-
tion of the irrepressible conflict between slavery and freedom. He became
the philosopher of the new party ; his expositions of its principles are
models of cogent reasoning. He was more conservative than Mr. Chase,
more national also. The latter was often handicapped with state right
theories. He maintained that the provisions of the Constitution for the
delivery of fugitives from slavery and from justice were to be enforced by
the states, and that the laws of Congress on these subjects were without
the authority of the Constitution and void.
So firmly did he hold this view that as governor of Ohio (1859) ne held
its militia in readiness to resist the authorities of the United States had
the Supreme court of that state in a case before it declared the fugitive
slave law unconstitutional. Happily, the casting vote of Judge Swan in
favor of the constitutionality of the law averted a conflict. Otherwise the
rebellion might have begun in Ohio instead of in South Carolina, which,
indeed, the Union sentiment would have speedily crushed, but with it the
hopes, for the time at least, of freedom.
These state right theories embarrassed Mr. Chase when the hour of se-
cession came. He paused, he hesitated, and finally said he was willing to
let the Gulf states go. There is no evidence that Mr. Seward went this
far. His purposes for the weeks preceding the firing on Sumter were, and
yet remain, obscure. There was a theatrical element in his nature. He
loved to envelop himself in an air of mystery. Whatever may have been
the cause, for many anxious days affairs drifted, state after state departed,
fort after fort was taken, and nothing was done. There was danger then
that in this silent way, through the mere lapse of time, secession would be
acquiesced in as an accomplished fact. The insight and patriotism of Mr.
Lincoln averted this calamity.
" To Mr. Lincoln," said Mr. Chase at the time, ''belongs the honor of
so shaping affairs that the South became manifestly the aggressor in the
conflict at Fort Sumter. That work was wholly his own, unaided by any
member of his Cabinet."
It was a supreme service. The response that was made showed that the
people were far in advance of Chase and Seward. But neither Chase nor
Seward was the representative of uncompromising abolition.
If Mr. Calhoun represented the fanaticism of slavery, Sumner repre-
sented the enthusiasm of abolition. To this cause, subordinating all else,
he dedicated his life. If he did not bfing to it the penetrating vision or
logical acumen of Calhoun, he brought a wider scholarship, a broader view,
a loftier moral tone, a like courage and fixedness of purpose.
UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION 21 3
In these tamer times his speeches may seem too intense and the tone
exaggerated, but they were in harmony with the deeper feeling of the pe-
riod when spoken. He had constantly the largest audience of any speaker.
His earnest, intense, impassioned style wrought his sympathetic readers
up to the highest pitch of enthusiasm, while his burning invectives against
slavery, and sometimes against the slave-holders, exasperated them to mad-
ness. He thus supplied the supreme need of the hour. He made compro-
mise and surrender to slavery impossible. For years before the catastrophe
this was the always imminent danger. When we remember the tempta-
tions to it — the dread of disunion, the loss of the Southern trade, the ties
of blood and interest, the pathetic appeals from various sources and mo-
tives— the wonder is that there was not a surrender. But Sumner was in
the way.
He had a peculiar training fitting him for his work. Entering the Sen-
ate chamber from the student's closet, he was cast at once into the strug-
gle, free from the deadening, corrupting influences of long contact with the
public life of that day, thoroughly permeated with pro-slavery sentiments.
The social circle at Washington was a pro-slavery society. Conditions of
admission, scorn of the anti-slavery sentiment ; exclusion from it, social os-
tracism at the capital. Yet it was as wise as the serpent, if not harmless
as the dove.
It was very gracious to the new-comer from the North, who had made
his mark, even as an anti-slavery man.
Its blandishments and seductions were showered upon him. It would
have him shorn of his locks — and many were the promising young men of
the North whom it seduced.
Mr. Sumner was the special object of its attentions. His youth, hand-
some appearance, accomplishments, were very fascinating, and then he had
the entree of the diplomatic social circle. The pro-slavery circle greeted him
with its tenderest caresses ; nor was he displeased with these. Chase and
Hale, his only anti-slavery associates in the Senate, warned him of the mo-
tive of these attentions, but he was incredulous. Still he spoke not on the
great theme ; month after month passed and he was silent.
His friends grew apprehensive, his constituents restive ; could it be that
another anti-slavery tongue was silenced ? At last he spoke, and with no
uncertain sound. The danger of seduction was past. Friend and foe alike
recognized this. Yet he himself did not recognize that his relations to the
pro-slavery society were forever changed, and he was keenly disappointed
when from those from whom he had recently received only caresses he
now received scowls.
214 UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION
His social ostracism at the capital was complete ; nor did it stop there.
In the Senate he was assailed with bitterness. The slave-holder and his
Northern ally vied with each other in the maliciousness of the assault.
The sanctity of his closet was invaded, and he was charged in the open
Senate with rehearsing his speeches before his mirror.
Before he entered the Senate he had probably never made an extempore
speech. His powers in this direction were unknown, alike to himself and
to his friends. But to his own and their surprise he discovered un-
equaled powers in this line and in stinging repartee. He was more than a
match for all his adversaries. Sometimes goaded to desperation, he struck
back with fearful violence. On one occasion, after listening to a long tirade
of coarse abuse, he made only this reply : "Again the Senator from Illinois
whisks his tongue and again the chamber is filled with foul odors." As an
illustration of the way in which the contest was carried on between Sumner
and slavery, I may here relate the incidents, as I witnessed them, attending the
delivery of his speech on the " Barbarism of Slavery," June 4, i860 — his first
appearance in the Senate after ail absence of more than four years, caused
by the blows of Brooks, and his last great effort before the war.
Vice-President John C. Breckinridge was in the chair — 12 o'clock had
been fixed as the hour for the delivery of the speech. Mr. Sumner had
not been in the Senate during the morning hour, but punctual to the time
he was seen walking down the aisle rapidly to his seat, in full evening dress,
holding in his gloved hand a bundle of printed slips, of glossy, stiff paper,
each sheet retaining, when held separately, its place unbent in the hand.
This was his speech, which he laid before him on his desk, and which with-
out preliminary remark he began reading.
This was the signal for a scene of subdued disorder, continuing more or
less to the end. The Democrats, North and South, immediately arose, the
great body of them leaving their seats and gathering in groups in the area
behind the desks and in the lobbies communicating therewith. In these
lobbies were, apparently, decanters of brandies and wines, and glasses.
There was continuous passing to and fro here, drinking, and hilarious laugh-
ter, the different groups for a moment listening to Sumner, then turning
away with derisive laughter and comment so loud that Mr. Sumner some-
times stopped, when the President of the Senate, with apparent disinclina-
tion, would make a deprecatory remark to the disorderly groups, in a tone
of marked deference and with a smile of sympathy, he himself affecting in-
difference, reclining and yawning in his chair, holding most of the time be-
fore him a newspaper, as if reading.
Amid these groups of disorderly persons, conspicuous for his hilarity,
UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION 21 5
was Jefferson Davis. He seemed very happy, and his disposition to laugh
uncontrollable. But Wigfall, of Texas, was the hero of the moment. He
frequently left the lobbies, passed down the aisle by the side of Sumner,
and passing beyond him two or three seats, would turn abruptly around
and gaze defiance in Sumner's face, within a few feet of him, and almost
between him and the President of the Senate.
The thickset body of Wigfall, his short neck, heavy projecting under
jaw, deeply set eyes, glaring from beneath his heavy, shaggy brows, and
heavier, overhanging, shaggier black hair, made at once a grotesque and
forbidding figure.
Mr. Douglas was restless, moving about the lobbies, now with the dis-
orderly groups on the right of the President, now with Seward's arm
about his neck. Seward himself was ill at ease — he sometimes sat in his seat,
giving attention, but soon darted out, as if suddenly summoned, then re-
turned, and finally disappeared. The Republicans generally remained quiet
in their seats, giving attention, but their countenances wore a regretful
look, as if they would that this cup might pass by them.
In that throng of marked men, whose names are now immortal, there
was one whose venerable, furrowed, wrinkled, and benignant visage arrested
attention. Mr. Crittenden sat a few seats in front of Mr. Sumner and looked
him full in the face, giving unbroken attention. The expression of his
countenance was painfully sad — it wore an imploring look, and the appeal
it made to the orator was unmistakable, almost, as it were, audible : " For-
bear, Mr. Sumner, forbear! Every word you utter makes compromise and
conciliation more and more impossible. It may be that slavery is the dread-
ful thing you describe, but it is upon us — we don't know what to do with
it. We are not responsible for its presence ; we have inherited it ; it is in-
tertwined with every fiber of our social life and it is guaranteed to us by
the Constitution. Without this guaranty the Union would not have been
formed. You are making the continuance of the Union impossible. Al-
ready the states are discordant, belligerent. Soon the land will be rent with
civil war. Forbear, Mr. Sumner, forbear ! "
This appeal fell upon adamantine ears. The orator was inexorable ;
and then and there compromise with slavery received its death-blow.
Languishing, it yet did live a while longer, and its last great advocate
became its last mourner. It might have been otherwise but for Sumner.
When the crisis did come, strong men quailed. Charles Francis Adams,
trampling upon his own record and the hereditary glory of his house, would
have made terms with slavery. Even Wendell Phillips fiercely clamored
at Boston for disunion, but Charles Sumner, never. On this day the sig-
2l6 UNION, SECESSION, ABOLITION
nificance of Sumner's work was not felt. He found no sympathy in that
Senate. Somewhere Carlyle alludes incidentally, as it were, to Sterling's
early, kindly words about his (Carlyle's) books, adding in an ejaculatory
way. " Ah ! human recognition ! " But on this day, in that Senate Cham-
ber, Sumner had no human recognition. His eye met no friendly greet-
ing. If it fell upon the President, it met cold indifference; if he looked
before him, it met the jackal glance of Wigfall, whose hands, even then,
were red with human blood ; if he turned to his left, ear and eye were
greeted with gibe and leer and grimace and ribald jest, mingling with the
noises of ringing bar-room glasses in the very threshold of the sanctuary
of the Senate. If he turned his eye to the right, there was the more
chilling, deprecatory look of his Republican brethren. The galleries were
empty. Sympathy nowhere. Surrounded by his brother Senators, he was
alone — it was isolation profound, oppressive. He felt it. He read as if
rehearsing his speech alone, his voice assuming the deep tones of the ritu-
alist, befitting the gravity of the moment. He seldom raised his eyes from
the paper before him ; but when he did, they instinctively turned heaven-
ward. Bravely, thoroughly, his task was done, to the end.
For making, four years before, such a speech as this, he had been
stricken down at his place in the Senate chamber. To-day no hand was
raised against him. Armed friends attended him ; they were not needed.
There was even no reply. Chesnut, of South Carolina, spit out some
bitter words ; that, and nothing more. All felt, when Sumner closed, that
the time for speech had passed. The knot could not be untied — it must
be cut.
The beginnings of strife are noisy ; but when the death-grapple comes,
the voice is still. Henceforth there was no angry discussion in Congress.
From that moment the South began to arm — to beat the pruning-hook into
the spear. Soon the tramp of armed men was heard from the Rio Grande
to the Potomac. But the " Quintuple Barbarism " perished in the throes
of a mighty convulsion.
Cincinnati, Ohio.
<£/: Ttt* <&<<Ucfc*^
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
One of the principles early enunciated by the government of the
United States, and which has grown into a political axiom, is the avoid-
ance of " entangling alliances" with foreign powers. The wisdom of this
principle on the part of a nation politically and geographically constituted
as is our own has been frequently illustrated when its violation would
have entailed complications that might have endangered, if they had not
indeed destroyed, that perfect independence of self-government which is
the basis and strength of our political system.
The firm maintenance of this principle has at times been severely tried
when the struggles and appeals of distant and oppressed nationalities have
stirred the American heart until the national government has been forced
— while restraining its hands from action — to give official utterance to the
sentiments of the people at large. It is impossible for a young and suc-
cessful nation like the United States — herself the child of revolution — not
to feel acutely — and to give expression to that feeling — the hardships of
other nationalities which, under the galling yoke of alien oppression, seek
to establish a similar self-government to that which we established, under
less trying circumstances, by rebellion and the sword.
Greece, Poland, and Hungary present cases in point ; and in the two
latter instances the scenes are fresh in the memory of those whose hearts
and hands and voices went forth in no inconsiderable degree to cheer and
aid the revolutionists. The Greek revolution which broke out in 1821,
and continued for a series of years, is more remote, but no less thrilling,
particularly in the inequality of the struggle, the marvelous pertinacity
of the Greeks in continuing a revolt against enormous odds, and in the
instances of heroism, by land and by sea, which scarcely find a counterpart
in modern history. It will be remembered that after four centuries of
Turkish rule, or rather misrule, Greece had sunk to so low a level that she
excited no interest abroad beyond the pitiful belief that the Hellenic spirit
had expired in dust and ashes, affording no hope of future resurrection.
That one pregnant and popular line of Lord Byron — written after visiting
the country — fully expresses the opinion which then prevailed. She was
" Greece, but living Greece no more." Byron, however, was not aware,
any more than the rest of the world, that under the ashes of centuries,
desolation, and the worst form of political and social oppression, there was
Vol. XVIII.— No. 3-15
2lS THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
an undercurrent of hope and determination moving slowly but surely on-
ward among the leading Greeks in the official employment of the Ottoman
government, and destined before many years to break forth into popular
demonstration. The secret preparation for this may be said to have had
its commencement as far back as the early years of the eighteenth century,
and it was principally due to the cohesion of the Greek nationality ; for, in
spite of the demoralizing effects upon the Greeks of the Moslem yoke,
their barbarian oppressors dared not awaken the resentment of Christian
Europe by any open interference with the religion of their conquered sub-
jects. This subtle and impregnable bond preserved alike their language,
manners, and customs ; and the superior intelligence and mental activity of
the Greeks to that of the ignorance and brutal ferocity of their conquerors
afforded channels for the interchange of ideas, among themselves, which
kept alive the glorious anticipation of future regeneration. As a Greek
historian puts it, their " priests whispered of hope and freedom in the
pauses of their prayers;" and although a generation died before any mate-
rial effort was practicable on their part, the moment came at last when a
small body of revolutionists boldly asserted their purpose to shake off the
detested yoke or to perish in the attempt. Greece proper then contained
less than a million of Greeks, the bulk of the nation, at least three times
that in numbers, being an integral portion of the Turkish population, while
many of their leading men held official employment in Constantinople and
the adjacent provinces. These latter were unable to take an active part
in the rebellion, or even to show their hands, but silently and by intrigue
fed the flame and encouraged their brethren-in-arms.
It cannot be doubted that the success of the American Revolution, fol-
lowed by that of the French Revolution, stimulated the Greeks largely to
attempt the recovery of their freedom. America was a far-off land, and to
the uneducated peasantry of Greece but vaguely comprehended ; but the
astounding fact that three millions of people had maintained for seven
years an unequal contest with the army of England and her foreign allies,
and had achieved their independence, illumined with fresh hopes the little
band of Greek patriots and strengthened the determination of their ill-
organized and insufficiently armed soldiery to stand the hazard of the die.
One of the first acts of the Greek " senate " at Calamata was a resolu-
tion which declared, "that having deliberately resolved to live or die for
freedom, they were drawn by an irresistible sympathy to the people of the
United States." The Greek appeal to us for sympathy and material aid
was not unheeded, so far as private individuals and associations were con-
cerned. By these, arms and vessels were forwarded to the combatants, and
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 219
some few volunteers went to Greece to offer their personal services to the
chiefs; but the fact must not be withheld that pecuniary speculation, both
in America and other countries where such aid was afforded, formed in
many instances the chief incentive. Ships and ammunition were sold to
the Greeks both by Englishmen and Americans at " war prices," and in
some cases were fraudulent transactions. These were chiefly paid for by
a loan contracted by the Greeks in England at such onerous rates that only
about forty per cent, of the nominal amount ever reached the Greeks. At
the close of the war, the half-starved and moneyless freemen found them-
selves saddled with an overpowering foreign debt which had been contracted
under the belief that three or four millions of Greeks would constitute the
inhabitants of " free Greece," and that the territory recovered from Turkey
would be three times in extent to that which was finally determined upon
by the arbitration of the Great Powers.
But if at first the sympathy of our people for the struggling Greeks was
less pronounced, it was owing to their imperfect information as to the prog-
ress of the revolution. Many, too, believed with Europe that the attempt
of a comparative handful of inexperienced soldiers to cope with the disci-
plined phalanxes of Turkey would be futile, and although the spirit of the
Greeks was highly applauded, a general impression — chiefly derived from
European sources — prevailed that the affair would end, as other risings in
Europe had ended, in disgrace and failure, leaving the exhausted insurgents
in a more oppressed and hopeless condition than before.
As the news reached the United States of the continued persistence of
the Greek troops, together with instances of brilliant valor and self-devo-
tion little expected from a race downtrodden for centuries, the interest in-
creased ; and when the news of the Turkish massacre at Scio, in March,
1822, reached the civilized world, the people of the United States were
excited to a degree of sympathy which ran through the nation like an
electric shock.
In retaliation for the rising of the peasantry of that island and the shut-
ting up by them of the Turkish garrison in the citadel, the Turkish fleet
landed fifteen thousand men upon the island, and " a massacre of the
Christian inhabitants commenced such as the annals of warfare seldom re-
cord. Men, women, and children were tortured and then put to death.
Some fled to the mountains and hid themselves in caverns ; others suc-
ceeded in getting on board the foreign ships lying in the harbor ; others
made their escape to the neighboring islands; while more than forty thou-
sand were slain in the course of a month, and thousands of the most re-
fined and cultivated were carried off and sold into slavery in the bazaars
2 20 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
of Smyrna and Constantinople. Many were bought by Turks for the
pleasure oi torturing them and putting them to death, and many were re-
deemed by Europeans residing in Smyrna, who sacrificed their wealth in
this work of Christian charity. The population of Syra was reduced from
more than a hundred thousand, before the revolution, to sixteen thousand,
in one year."
The American press nobly responded to the universal sentiment of
horror that pervaded the people at large when this event was known, and
so universal was it, that Turkish atrocities and Greek valor became the topic
of the time, both in public and in private intercourse. The writer of this
paper, in looking over a file of old family correspondence, dated during
that period, is struck by the frequent and fervent reference to events in
Greece, and to the sufferings of the revolutionists at the hands of their in-
human enemy.
From that time forward the course of the war for Greek independence
was eagerly watched by our countrymen, whose hopes and fears increased
or diminished with the varying vicissitudes of the struggle. Thus Greece
became known to the people of the United States through her aims and
sacrifices, and the names of her heroes were as familiar as household words.
Mavromichales, Mavrocordatos, Tricovpi, Ypselanti among statesmen;
Marco Bozzaris, Costi, and Nothi among soldiers; and Canares and Mia-
ovles among naval commanders, are names incorporated among the saviors
of Greece, and are not forgotten by those who take any interest in modern
Greek history. Admiration of the valor of the revolutionists increased
with the later accounts of Greek vengeance upon the authors of the mas-
sacre at Scio, when Andreas Miaovles encountered the Turkish armament
between Scio and the coast of Asia Minor and gave them battle ; and when
Canares, the dauntless Hydriote, conducting his fire ships with secrecy and
alertness within the lines of the enemy's fleet, set the Turkish flag-ship on
fire, which was destroyed, with two thousand men, including the captain-
pacha, who perished on the very scene of his inhuman cruelties to the in-
habitants of Scio. The gallant deed of Marco Bozzaris and his band of five
hundred Suliotes, when he surprised the Turkish camp at Carpenesion, by
which eight hundred Turks were slain, with a loss of only fifty of the Greeks
— but in which he himself perished — is embalmed in the memory of every
American schoolboy by Halleck's spirited and touching poem.*
* The following letter, dated in 1869, from Col. D. M. Bozzaris, son of the famous chief-
tain— to the writer, who was then in Greece— may not be without interest in this connection.
The souvenir referred to is now deposited in the collection of the New York Historical Society :
»« * * * Tn asking me so earnestly for some small object, as a souvenir, which once belonged
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 221
Nor was the popular outbreak of our sympathy for Greece limited to
the press and to individuals. It found fitting expression in the writings of
distinguished scholars, poets, and statesmen, and in 1824 the halls of Con-
gress resounded with the eloquent appeals of the leading representatives of
the people, who, without a jot of self-interest in the matter, rose to the
spirit of the occasion through the irrepressible claims of suffering humanity
in its struggle for life and liberty.
Such was the universality of public sentiment respecting Greece, that
President Monroe, in his Message to Congress of December 2, 1823, said:
" A strong hope has been long entertained, founded on the heroic struggle
of the Greeks, that they would succeed in their contest, and resume their
equal station among the nations of the earth. It is believed that the whole
civilized world takes a deep interest in their welfare. Although no power
has declared in their favor, yet none, according to our information, has
taken part against them. Their cause and their name have protected them
from dangers which might ere this have overwhelmed any other people.
The ordinary calculations of interest and acquisition, with a view to
aggrandizement, which mingle so much in the transactions of nations,
seem to have had no effect in regard to them. From the facts which have
come to our knowledge, there is good cause to believe that their enemy has
lost forever all dominion over them ; that Greece will become an independ-
ent nation. That she may attain that rank is the object of our most
ardent wishes."
On the 29th of that month a memorial was presented to the govern-
ment from the citizens of New York. It appeared to them that " the
Greek cause was not only entitled to the good wishes of this country, but,
as far as might be done consistently with the views of the government, to
every possible assistance." The memorial concluded with a reference to
to my father, you have rendered an homage to his memory which touches me profoundly. It is
with deep regret, therefore, that I have to confess that it is not in my power to gratify your desire.
An infant and a refugee in a foreign land at the time I lost my father, I received from his estate
only two swords. To part with them would be unpardonable on my part. In my desire, however,
to gratify you, I venture to offer for your acceptance a small object, without value in itself, but
which may acquire value in your eyes from the associations with which it is connected. This ob-
ject is a simple silk tassel which I have detached from the sword which my father wore in his last
hour at that night's combat of which your eminent national poet, Halleck, has sung in such mag-
nificent verse. It will thus at the same time recall to you the glorious end of a warrior who died
for the deliverance of his country, and the admirable verses which that event inspired, of the poet
who honors your own."
The note concludes with an expression of the recognition by his countrymen of "those con-
stant sympathies of which the United States gives so many proofs in behalf of Greece, and for the
veneration with which it honors the memory of his father."
2 2 2 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
the " barbarous dominion of the Turks, equally fatal to liberty, learning,
and taste, and under which the Greeks have been most cruelly oppressed
for ages," in contrast "to the ingenious, enterprising, free, and commercial
character of the Greeks, their language, their literature, their religion, and
their eventful history."
In response to a request for information from Congress, President
Monroe and his Secretary of State, John Quincy Adams, transmitted
papers of peculiar interest, embracing a correspondence between Greek and
American officials abroad and at home, with statements of the progress of
the war and statistics of the geographical divisions of Greece, its population,
productions, and resources.
In a dispatch, in reply to our minister at London, who had forwarded
the Greek appeal for recognition by our government of their independence,
Mr. Adams says : "The United States could give assistance to the Greeks
only by the application of some portion of their public force or of their
public revenue in their favor, and it could constitute them in a state of war
with the Ottoman Porte, and, perhaps, with all the Barbary powers. To
make this disposition, either of force or treasure, you are aware, is, by our
Constitution, not within the competency of the Executive. * * *
Yet we cherish the most friendly relations toward the Greeks, and are
sincerely disposed to render them any service which may be compatible with
our neutrality, and it will give us pleasure to learn from time to time the
actual state of their cause, political and military."
An appeal to the government was also made by the state of South
Carolina in behalf of the recognition of the independence of Greece,
expressing the deep interest of the people of that state in " the noble and
patriotic struggle of the modern Greeks to rescue from the foot of the in-
fidel and barbarian the hallowed land of Leonidas and Socrates.
On the 5th of January, 1824, a long and powerfully worded memorial
was presented to Congress by the citizens of Boston for the people of
Greece. In view of the clearly denned obligations of strict neutrality on
the part of the government in all exclusively foreign wars, the memorialists
did not on this occasion appeal for the recognition of Greek independence,
but they expressed their" earnest wish that the indignation and abhorrence,
which they are satisfied is universal throughout the United States, at the
mode in which the Turkish government is carrying on the war against
Greece, should be distinctly avowed in the face of the world, and that other
civilized and Christian nations should be invited to join in a solemn remon-
strance against such barbarous and inhuman depravity. The sale of forty
thousand women and children (after the massacre of their husbands and
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 223
fathers) in open market, in the presence of Christian Europe, and without
one word of remonstrance from the surrounding nations, is a circumstance
discreditable to the age in which we live." * " *
All these memorials were signed by the leading and most influential
citizens of the states and towns from which they issued. The sentiments
which inspired them were ably and nobly supported, both in and out of
Congress, by the most influential speakers and writers of the day, and but
for the limitation of space, these eloquent appeals might be quoted in full
in these pages without apology ; a few extracts, however, must suffice.
Referring to the allusion to Greece in President Monroe's annual Message
to Congress, Daniel Webster, in the House of Representatives, moved the
following resolution : "Resolved, That provision ought to be made by law
for defraying the expense incident to the appointment of an agent or
commission to Greece, when the President shall deem it expedient to make
such an appointment."
This was a bold step in view of the prevailing ideas respecting the prin-
ciple of avoiding entangling alliances with foreign powers;''- and besides,
Webster felt the necessity for drawing the line between " the warmth and
enthusiasm which excited the country at large," in behalf of Greece, and
the right to declare our abhorrence of foreign oppression. He admitted that
if " popular eloquence," inspired by the recollection of ancient Greece and
the claims upon humanity of modern Greece, were to be exercised in that
place, it "would move the stones of the capitol." "Even the edifice in
which we assemble, these proportioned columns, this ornamented architect-
ure, all remind us that Greece has existed, and that we, like the rest of man-
kind, are greatly her debtors. But 1 have not introduced this motion in the
vain hope of discharging anything of this accumulated debt of centuries.
My object is nearer and more immediate. I wish to take occasion through
the struggle of an interesting and gallant people in the cause of Liberty
and Christianity, to draw the attention of the House to the circumstances
which have accompanied that struggle, and to the principles which appear
to have governed the conduct of the great states of Europe in regard to it,
and to the effects and consequences of these principles upon the independ-
ence of nations, and especially upon the institutions of free governments.
It regards Greece as she now is, contending against fearful odds for being*
and for the common privileges of human nature. As it is never difficult to
recite commonplace remarks and trite aphorisms, so it may be easy, I am
aware, on this occasion to remind me of the wisdom which dictates to men
* If the writer mistake not, this reference to Greece appears in the same Message which pro-
mulgated the so-called " Monroe Doctrine."
224 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
a care of their own affairs, and admonishes them, instead of searching for
adventures abroad, to leave other men's concerns in their own hands. It
may be easy to call this resolution Quixotic, the emanation of a crusading
and propagandist spirit. All this and more ma}' be readily said, but all
this and more will not be allowed to fix a character upon this proceeding
until that is proved which it takes for granted. But in my opinion this
cannot be shown. In my judgment, the subject is interesting to the people
and government of this country, and we are called upon by considerations
of great weight and moment to express our opinions upon it. These con-
siderations, I think, spring from a sense of our duty, our character, and our
own interests. I wish to treat the subject on such grounds, exclusively, as
are truly American."
The speech was lengthy, and completely exposed the political condition
of Europe as affecting Greece, and the selfish influences which induced the
Powers to resist the efforts of any people to change their government or
their political relations.
11 I close, then, Sir, with repeating that the object of this resolution is to
avail ourselves of the interesting occasion of the Greek revolution to make
our protest against the doctrines of the Allied Powers, both as they are
laid down in principle and as they are applied in practice. I think it right
too, Sir, not to be unseasonable in the expression of our regard, and, as far
as that goes, in a manifestation of our sympathy with along oppressed and
now struggling people. I am not of those who would in the hour of ut-
most peril withhold such encouragement as might be properly and lawfully
given, and when the crisis should be past, overwhelm the rescued sufferers
with kindness and caresses. The Greeks address the civilized world with a
pathos not easy to be resisted. They invoke our favor by more moving
considerations than can well belong to the condition of any other people.
They stretch out their arms to the Christian communities of the earth, be-
seeching them by a generous recollection of their ancestors, by the consid-
eration of their desolate and ruined cities and villages, by the wives and
children sold into an accursed slavery, by their blood, which they seem
willing to pour out like water,* by the common faith and in the name
which unites all Christians, that they would extend to them at least some
token of compassionate regard."
The Committee of the Whole rose without voting upon the resolution,
* The Creeks assured the Great Powers that although two hundred thousand of their country-
men had offered up their lives, there yet remained lives to offer ; and that it was the determination
of all, " Yes, of all," to persevere, until they established their liberty or until the power of their
oppressors should have relieved them from the burden of existence.
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 225
but the speech was printed and widely circulated. Webster considered it
one of his best.
Rebuking a political opponent in the Senate, who from prudential con-
siderations deemed the moment inopportune for an official expression of
sympathy for Greece in the face of monarchical Europe, Henry Clay
delivered one of his most characteristic and incisive speeches. " Are we
so humble, so low, so debased," said the great orator, "that we dare not
express our sympathy for suffering Greece ; that we cannot articulate cur
detestation of the brutal excesses of which she has been the bleeding vic-
tim, lest we might offend one or more of their imperial or royal majesties ?
Are we so mean, so base, so despicable, that we may not attempt to express
our horror, utter our indignation, at the most brutal and atrocious war that
ever stained earth or shocked high Heaven ; at the ferocious deeds of a
savage and infuriated soldiery, stimulated and urged on by the clergy of a
fanatical and inimical religion, and rioting in all the excesses of blood and
butchery, at the mere details of which the heart sickens and recoils ? * * *
What appearance, Mr. Chairman, on the page of history, would a record
like this exhibit ? ' In the month of January, in the year of our Lord and
Saviour 1824, while all European Christendom beheld, with cold and un-
feeling indifference, the unexampled wrongs and inexpressible misery of
Christian Greece, a proposition was made in the Congress of the United
States, almost the sole, the last, the greatest depository of human hope
and freedom, the representatives of a gallant nation, containing a million
of freemen ready to fly to arms, while the people of that nation were
spontaneously expressing its deep-toned feeling, and the whole continent,
by one simultaneous emotion, was rising and silently and anxiously sup-
plicating and invoking high Heaven to spare and succor Greece, and to
invigorate her arms in her glorious cause ; while temples and senate-houses
were alike resounding with one burst of generous and holy sympathy — in
the year of our Lord and Saviour, that Saviour of Greece and of us — a
proposition was offered in the American Congress to send a messenger to
Greece, to inquire into her state and condition, with a kind expression of
our good wishes and our sympathies — and it was rejected ! Go home, if
you can, go home, if you dare, to your constituents and tell them that you
voted it down. Meet, if you can, the appalling countenances of those who
sent you here, and tell them that you shrank from the declaration of your
own sentiments ; that you cannot tell how, but that some unknown dread,
some indescribable apprehension, some indefinite danger, drove you from
your purpose ; that the specters of cimeters and crowns and crescents
gleamed before you, and alarmed you ; and that you suppressed all the
226 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
noble feelings prompted by religion, by liberty, by national independence,
and by humanity. I cannot, Sir, bring myself to believe that such will be
the feeling of a majority of this committee. But for myself, though every
friend of the cause should desert it, and I be left to stand alone with the
gentleman from Massachusetts, I will give to his resolution the poor sanc-
tion of m\' unqualified approbation."
Dwight thus urged the claims of Greece upon America : " What heart
does not throb, what bosom does not heave, at the very thought of Grecian
independence ? Have you the feelings of a man, and do you not wish
that the blood of Greece should cease to flow, and that the groans and
sighs of centuries should be heard no more? Are you a scholar, and shall
the land of the Muses ask your help in vain? With the eye of the enthu-
siast do you often gaze at the triumphs of the arts; and will you do
nothing to rescue their choicest relics from worse than Vandal barbarism ?
Are you a mother, rejoicing in'all the charities of domestic life; are you a
daughter, rich and safe in conscious innocence and parental love ; and
shall thousands more, among the purest and loveliest of your sex, glut the
shambles of Smyrna and be doomed to a captivity inconceivably worse
than death ? Are you a Christian, and do you cheerfully contribute your
property to Christianize the heathen world ? What you give to Greece is
to rescue a nation of Christians from extermination, to deliver the ancient
churches, to overthrow the Mohammedan imposture, to raise up a stand-
ard for the wandering tribes of Israel, and to gather in the harvest of the
world. Are you an American citizen, proud of the liberty and independ-
ence of your country? Greece, too, is struggling for these very blessings,
which she taught your fathers to purchase with their blood. And when
she asks your help, need I urge you to bestow it? Where am I ? In the
land of the Pilgrims — in a land of independence — in a land of freedom.
Here, then, I leave their cause."
These stirring words from America stimulated the Greek patriots to
renewed efforts, and in 1825 the reciprocal feelings were so strongly mani-
fested in Greece that the provisional government actually proposed to
send a fleet into the Mediterranean with one of our leading statesmen,
who should assume the office of legislator, or dictator, on the summons of
the Greek nation. And this proposal was made to us because, to use the
words of the letter that contained it, they " suspected the motives of the
English and shuddered at the despotic aims of the Holy Alliance, whose
members had hoped that the insurrection would be suppressed by Ibrahim
Pacha and his Egyptian hordes." *
* Felton.
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 227
On the 4th of December, 1827, the following reference to Greece — then
within a year of completing the struggle which resulted in her independ-
ence— appears in President John Quincy Adams' Message to Congress :
" From the. interest taken by this sovereign " (the Emperor Nicholas of
Russia) " in behalf of the suffering Greeks, and from the spirit with which
others of the great European Powers are co-operating with him, the friend
of freedom and of humanity may indulge the hope that they may obtain
relief from the most unequal of conflicts which they have so long and so
gallantly sustained ; that they will enjoy the blessings of self-government,
which by their sufferings in the cause of liberty they have richly earned ;
and that their independence will be secured by those liberal institutions
of which their country furnished the earliest examples in the history of
mankind, and which have consecrated to immortal remembrance the very
soil for which they are now again profusely pouring forth their blood.
The sympathies which the people and government of the United States
have so warmly indulged with their cause have been acknowledged by their
government in a letter of thanks which I have received from their illustrious
President, a translation of which is now communicated to Congress, the
representatives of that nation to whom this tribute of gratitude was in-
tended to be paid, and to whom it was justly due."
In the letter referred to, the Greek President, Count Capo d'Istrias,
writes: "The President of the General National Congress of my nation
has just transmitted to me a letter, addressed to your excellency, in which
he expresses the sentiments of gratitude with which the liberal conduct of
the American nation has filled the nation over which he presides. I deem
myself exceedingly happy in having been selected as the organ of this
communication ; and I pray God, the Protector of America and Greece, to
afford me, in future, other opportunities of witnessing the reciprocal sen-
timents of two nations, to one of whom I belong, and offer to the other
the sentiments of my admiration and the homage of my gratitude."
This communication incloses a letter from the President of " The
Third National Assembly of Greece," addressed to the President of the
United States, in which occur the following passages: "In extending a
helping hand toward the Old World, and encouraging it in its march to
freedom and civilization, the New World covers itself with increased glory
and does honor to humanity. Greece, Sir, has received with gratitude the
signal testimonies of the philanthropic sentiments of the people of North
America, as well as its generous assistance."
When the war was over the problem of self-government in Greece be-
came an anxious and for a time an insoluble question in the councils of the
228 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
young state. Had the popular wish alone been consulted, the model for
Greece to adopt would have been the Republic of the United States. The
Greeks had learned by that time what the principle of republican institu-
tions in the United States meant, and how to distinguish between them and
the hasty and imperfect ideas of France after her own revolution. Washing-
ton was their beau ideal of a patriot, and the Constitution of the Ameri-
can states their charter of freedom ; and in their earliest attempts to form
a provisional government that constitution was translated into Greek and
served "as a copy and guide to the law-givers." But, alas! poor, dis-
tracted, scarcely regenerated Greece had no Washington to guide her coun-
sels, and was under the iron hands of the Great Powers, who at the eleventh
hour had saved her falling fortunes at the battle of Navarino, and who
now attempted to manipulate her political destinies. It must be admitted
that, however pleasing the picture would have been to the American eye
of a young, brave, and independent republic springing up from the deso-
lating influences of barbarism, such an experiment on the part of a small
state, surrounded by antagonistic and despotic monarchies, could not have
been attended with success. This was proved during the four years' career
of President Capo dTstria, the intrigues against whom, owing to his sup-
posed sympathy with Russian ideas, led to his assassination.
A constitutional monarchy was finally decided upon for Greece, and
Prince Otho of Bavaria ascended the throne in 1832. The hopes of the
Greeks, excited by this event, were not, however, realized. Bavarian in-
fluences surrounded the throne, and the national aims of the country were
rudely repelled. Such a constitution as the Greeks had desired was not
forthcoming, and the king tampered with and delayed its execution.
Finally the patience of the people became exhausted, and a most remark-
able incident occurred at Athens, which stands to this day an historical
evidence of the determined character of the Greeks, coupled with their
respect for law and order. A proclamation was drawn up by the constitu-
tional party, with a list of a new ministry to be recommended to the king,
and an address advising his Majesty to call a national assembly to prepare
a constitution. The garrison of Athens, with pointed guns, ranged
before the palace, and the populace gathered about them in perfect
quiet and order, broken only by the shouts of the artillerymen,
" Long life to the Constitution !" Finally the king signed the
ordinances appointing a new ministry and convoking a national as-
sembly. " The troops, having been thirteen hours under arms, marched
back to their barracks, the citizens dispersed to their houses, and the busi-
ness of the city was not interrupted for an hour. In the same moderate
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 229
spirit of tranquil triumph the great constitutional victory was commemo-
rated all over the country. Thus was the revolution accomplished with-
out shedding a drop of blood or disturbing the quiet of a single citizen."
The forced abdication of King Otho in 1862 was followed by the elec-
tion in 1863 of Prince George of Denmark to the throne of Greece — the
existing monarch, whose broad and generous views of statesmanship
commend him to the love of his people and furnish as sure a guarantee
as can be obtained for the security and progress of Hellenic institutions, so
far as they depend upon the uprightness and sympathetic devotion of the
sovereign.
With the establishment by the larger Powers of Europe of diplomatic
relations with Greece, the United States was expected by Greece to send
a minister to Athens, but the necessity for such a step did not present it-
self to the consideration of Congress until difficulties arising between certain
American citizens dwelling in Greece and the Hellenic Government re-
quired the presence, on the spot, of a diplomatic representative, and in one
instance the dispatch of a vessel of war, to bring these cases to a successful
issue. It was not until 1867 that the establishment of a full mission at
Athens was decided upon. The Greek Government did not wait for the
arrival of our representative before appointing their minister to Washing-
ton, not only out of compliment to the United States, but for the purpose
of neutralizing, if not of destroying, the influence of the Ottoman Minister
then at the Capital, a clever diplomatist, who was unwearied in his exer-
tions to allay American sympathy for the Greeks of Crete, then in open
insurrection against their Turkish rulers. The minister appointed by the
Greek Government was Mr. Alexander Riza Rangabes, one of the most
distinguished of Greek diplomatists, a savant, and a man of letters.
It is to be hoped that henceforth no question of economy or of sup-
posed want of necessity will ever militate against the permanent continu-
ance of our legation at Athens, if for no other reasons than those so forcibly
epxressed, many years ago, and before the United States was represented
at that capital, by an American traveler and one of the most distinguished
writers on modern Greece. "I heartily wish," he wrote from Athens,
" the United States had a diplomatic representative here who could add
the force of his country's influence in favor of liberal principles and
enlightened government, for that influence would be very weighty, both on
account of old services still gratefully remembered and because our
country has no interests to subserve by intriguing in Eastern politics,
and her minister would command the unsuspecting confidence of the
Greek nation, which no European minister can. It is of much greater
230 THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
moment that we should be properly represented at Athens than at the
court oi Constantinople — at least until the Greek monarchy, as in the
course oi events it must, shall supplant in Europe the empire of the
Moslem, and the cross triumph over the crescent on those fair shores where
it was first planted."
That the Greeks are grateful to the people of the United States for
their sympathy and liberal aid during the bitter days of the revolution
has been frequently exemplified, but one or two instances may be men-
tioned in this connection. " Greece," wrote the then Minister for Foreign
Affairs at Athens, the eloquent Pericles Argyropoulos — " Greece has never
forgotten the noble sympathy manifested toward her by the American
nation at the time of her Revolution. Full of gratitude and of friendship,
she has always watched with the deepest interest the wonderful progress
which has been in every respect achieved by a people to whom she feels
attached by the most indissoluble ties. It is under the influence of these
sentiments that his Majesty's government, faithful interpreter of the
national wish, being desirous to testify in a solemn manner its veneration
for the memory of the illustrious Washington, has caused to be transmitted
a block of marble taken from the very ruins of the Parthenon, in order
that it may serve to adorn, however humbly, the monument destined to
perpetuate the remembrance of the great founder of American inde-
pendence." In accepting this precious relic as a contribution to the
Washington Monument, Mr. Marcy, then Secretary of State, responded
with appropriate sentiments.
In further evidence that with the lapse of years since our countrymen
first extended their generous hands to suffering Greece they have not
withheld material aid when required, nor the Greeks failed in their recog-
nition for such acts of sympathy, a personal reminiscence may be per-
mitted.
When the writer was appointed minister to Greece, on the establish-
ment of that mission, the Greek inhabitants of the island of Candia (Crete)
were in active insurrection to throw off the Turkish yoke. So marked
was the feeling excited in the United States in their behalf that public
meetings, resulting in contributions of money, clothing, and food for the
Cretan refugees — women and children who fled by thousands to Greece in
conditions of absolute destitution— were held in Boston and New York,
and were addressed by distinguished orators. The funds collected were
intrusted to the American minister for distribution in Greece, a duty
which he was able to fulfill satisfactorily, owing chiefly to the assistance
afforded him by the American missionaries at Athens. One evening sev-
THE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION 23 1
eral hundred children, from among the recipients of this bounty, gath-
ered in front of the legation, and after prayers and the singing of hymns,
sent up messages of gratitude to be forwarded in their behalf to the
United States. After this affecting scene they departed, with cheers for
America ringing in the air.
On another day the minister was waited on by the metropolitan Arch-
bishop, the highest ecclesiastic in Greece, who, wearing his robe and insig-
nia of office, and accompanied by a body of priests, delivered an address
of some length, overflowing, as did his eyes, with emotion as he alluded to
his own personal participation " in the great struggle which commenced
in 1 82 1, and still continues" and returned thanks for the moral and sub-
stantial aid extended by our countrymen at that period and during the
efforts of the Cretan Greeks to establish their independence. " I pray
you, Mr. Minister," he concluded, "to transmit the expression of our deep
thankfulness to the whole nation, and, if it be possible, to every American
citizen." *
The words of the Archbishop in italics — " and still continues" — fur-
nish the key-note to the existing political condition of Greece, and afford
an apology, if one be needed, for reminding our countrymen that the
Greeks are as alive to-day as they were during the seven years' war of inde-
pendence to the impelling necessity for the recovery of the entire portion
of their ancient domain, populated by millions of their countrymen, Greek
by nationality, language, religion, and the love of country. The struggle
"still continues;" not by intrigue or activity in arms, but by that restless
hope which keeps alive the national patriotism, and by that irrepressible
determination which awaits only a favorable opportunity to press the
claims of Greece upon the world at large. f But for the jealousy of the
great Powers with respect to the ultimate possession of that portion of
the empire of Turkey which encroaches upon the Christian provinces in
Europe, Greece might long ago have come to her own again. As it is,
the *' Eastern Question " is never revived in any shape that Greece does
not attempt, by diplomacy or hostility, to obtain an increase of territory
which she believes to be legitimately and religiously her own. In vain is
the little kingdom told by the governments of Europe to " rest and be
* The Greeks of To-day. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons.
I Greece has scarcely recovered her political equanimity since the imposition of the hands of
the great Powers to prevent her recent attempt at territorial acquisition than news reaches us of a
fresh insurrection in the neighboring island of Crete against the Turkish authorities. The Porte
has dispatched troops and a vessel of war to restore order, which will doubtless lead to a fresh
temporizing policy ; but these outbreaks may be expected to continue whenever an opportunity
presents itself, until the independence of the island is accomplished.
-o-
TIIE UNITED STATES AND THE GREEK REVOLUTION
thankful." She can neither do one nor the other. When she comes to that
paralysis she will cease to be Hellenic, and will shrivel up into a degenerate
race unworthy of her ancient grandeur or of her modern claims upon the
sympathy and respect of the free people of the earth. It is to be hoped — ■
a hope shared by Greece herself — that diplomacy, and not warfare, will
finally obtain for her that full recognition of territorial claims to which her
history, her valor, and her remarkable progress as a free state entitle the
kingdom. Xo people would more sincerely rejoice in such a result than
the people of the United States — they who gave her their sympathy and
aid during her heroic conflicts for liberty, and who will again lift up their
voices and extend their hands in her behalf should she look to us for en-
couragement and support in the hour of peril.
£s&e*A*<&<4 •/&*
Florence, Italy, 1887,
THE MAYAS
THEIR CUSTOMS, LAWS, AND RELIGION
A careful and prolonged study of those vestiges yet remaining of their
civilization induces one to believe that the Mayas were the most enlighten
of all the ancient Americans, and their dominion at one time extended
over the greater part of Central America. The Maya language, and its
dialects, is still spoken more than the Spanish — many know not a word of
that tongue — by the natives of Yucatan, Peten, the north part of Guate-
mala, and the Lacandon country, on the shores of the Uumacinta, and in
the valleys between those mountains — that region where the mysterious
" Tierra de Guerra" is, and into which a few intrepid travelers have vainly
endeavored to penetrate. It is a most interesting language, complete,
mellifluous, wonderfully expressive ; in fact, one that could have been de-
veloped only among highly cultivated people, needing all the various forms
of speech used by us.
There is a tendency on the part of some writers to class all the ancient
nations of Central America, Mexico, and surrounding countries as one
people. This is an error that serves as a stumbling-block in their investi-
gations, because a variety of race and language existed no less there than
in other parts of the world ; indeed, if geologists insist that America is
the oldest continent, we may suppose that even a greater diversity of
peoples have come and gone.
Not a few confound the Nahuatls and Aztecs with the Mayas. This
mistake is partly due to the fact that in the sixth century of the Christian
era Mexican tribes invaded the Maya empire, conquered, and established
themselves there, introducing rites and customs of their own. Some of
these were very barbarous, as, for instance, cruel human sacrifices, canni-
balism, and deformation of the skull, which was never in vogue among the
ancient Mayas; not in a single instance have we seen a misshapen head in
the paintings and sculptures found among the ruined palaces and temples
of Yucatan. In one bas-relief, however, there is a warrior running a lance
through a decapitated deformed head lying at his feet, apparently that of
a vanquished foe; this head culminates in a point like those of the people
of Palenque.
As for eating human flesh, the Mayas expressed loathing for the custom :
" The people of Yucatan did not eat human flesh ; formerly they hated the
Vol. XVIII.— No. 3.— 16
254 THE MAYAS
Mexican Indians because they did eat it " (J. de Villagutierre y Soto-
mayor. Hist, de ia Conquista. Lib. VIII., Cap. XII.) Nor is there any
proof that they made cruel sacrifices of human beings. Nevertheless,
some did voluntarily throw themselves into a large scnote (natural well), con-
sidered sacred, firmly believing that such an act would gratify the deity,
and that on the third day they would rise again.
As the descendants of various peoples were living in Yucatan when the
Spaniards arrived, the writings of the Christian fathers, concerning what
they saw there, appear in some instances contradictory, because the cus-
toms and manners are recorded as if they were those of one nation. For
example, while Landa, who was made Bishop of Yucatan in I 57 1 , declares
that " The people of Yucatan never took more than one wife,"* another
asserts that they were polygamists ; these were probably Nahuatls, though
no doubt some of the Mayas fell into their ways.
According to Father Cogolludo, whose work was first published in
Madrid in 1688, long after his death, Yucatan was divided into small
provinces, each bearing the name of its feudal lord, and all at war with
one another. But the natives declared that formerly the entire country
had been ruled over by one king, and was then called Maya or Mayapan
(banner of Maya). In very ancient times, according to the Troano Manu-
script, the peninsula was known as Mayax, or " the first land."
The discord existing between the provinces brought about their ruin ;
their division made them weak. The Nahuatls, thinking to have the white
men for allies, were the first to lay down their arms, thus betraying their
own cause, and enabling the Spaniards, after a war of several years, to
reduce the entire population to serfdom.
Those Nahuatls had been a turbulent set for centuries, always seeking,
and generally obtaining, mastery over neighboring tribes and countries.
Cultured in some respects, in others they v/ere savage, their horrible
religious rites and sacrifices being extremely revolting.
About many things they had peculiar notions. The practice of flatten-
ing the helpless babe's head between two hard boards has been widespread ;
but the idea of fastening a ball of wax to the child's forelock to dangle
over the bridge of its nose ! And for what? That the poor little creature
might be afflicted with a permanent squint, strabism being considered a
mark of beauty !
It would seem that at some time or other bearded men had made
themselves very obnoxious in that part of the world, for Bishop Landa
says that the mothers were careful to scorch their little boys' chins with
* Las Cosas de Yucatan.
THE MAYAS 235
very hot cloths, so that they might " never have a beard." Whether this
was customary among Nahuatls or Mayas, or both, we have now no means
of ascertaining.
As regards tattooing, judging by the paintings and sculptures, we are
inclined to believe that it was not fashionable among the ancient Mayas,
but it was a common thing in the fifteenth century ; they even made game
of those who had no fancy designs cut in their skin.
Some of the men kept the top of their head bald by burning the scalp,
had the hair short at the sides and very long behind, so that they could
plait it and coil it around their head, the ends being left unbraided and
hanging like tassels. Among the natives of Peru there are, at the present
time, some medicine-men residing in the high Andes who wear their hair
in the same way, so the queue is by no means confined to the Mongo-
lians.
The Mayas were of a lighter color than the generality of the American
Indians ; good-looking, strong, athletic ; in stature tall and finely formed,
having remarkably small hands and feet. They were long-lived — many
reached the age of one hundred, some, like Thomas Parr, of England, a
hundred and fifty years. In the early part of the conquest, a Fran-
ciscan friar, very trustworthy, said that in his wanderings among these
natives he had met one who was, according to what he himself and many
others said, three hundred years old. He was so bent that his chin almost
touched his knees. As he was very childish, no information could be
obtained from him about his forefathers or the country ; the only thing
that he kept count of was his own age (A. de Herrera, Decada IV., Lib.
III. Cap. 4). Dignified and grave in deportment, they were rather in-
clined to melancholy, yet very witty and clever jesters. " They would
frequently,"- says Cogolludo, " charge their superiors with some weakness
or failing, sometimes conveying a reproof or criticism in a single word, but
in such a manner that no one could rebuke them." The same writer, in
speaking of their capacity as workmen, affirms that while a Spaniard was
confined to one trade, a native would master three or four, and do excel-
lent work with the poorest kind of tools.
The women were pretty, and lighter in color than the men, " of a nicer
disposition than those of Spain, besides being bigger and better shaped,"
says Landa, adding, " Those who are beautiful are well aware of it, and in
truth they are not bad-looking." They were loving and lovable, but
exceedingly modest, and always industrious, as they are at the present
time. The manners of both men and women were refined and courteous;
nor have they changed in this respect— no Yucatecan Indian is ever rough
256 THE MAYAS
or clumsy ; and in their persons they are scrupulously clean, in marked
contrast to the aborigines of Mexico.
Both sexes were clothed in white cotton garments, those of the women
being trimmed with colored embroidery. Some of the men wore very
handsome cloaks made of stuff that resembled fine damask of many
hues.
Society was divided into three classes : the nobility, comprising the
priests and military chiefs; citizens, who were the tax-payers; and slaves
— these were either purchased foreigners, prisoners of war, or thieves, who
by law were always condemned to slavery. A serf could be ransomed
and become a citizen, but if a free man or woman married a slave they
henceforth belonged to that class.
Every district had a supreme judge, nor were lawyers wanting. Cases
were always argued by word of mouth, justice being administered as soon
as the sentence was passed. The punishments were severe, and appeal
useless. Noblemen condemned to death could, if they desired, have the
sentence commuted for that of perpetual slavery. The traitor, homicide,
and incendiary suffered death. In cases of adultery, unless the affronted
spouse wished to pardon the offense, the guilty man was stoned to death.
The faithless wife was considered sufficiently punished by her disgrace and
the death of her accomplice. This was among the Mayas. The Nahuatls
and others were barbarously cruel to the erring woman. Minor offences
were punished by fines, or imprisonment in large wooden cages placed in
a thoroughfare, where every one could gaze at the culprit. Similar cages
are used in Japan. No favor was shown to evil-doers of high rank. A
certain prince, having by force wronged an innocent maiden, was stoned
to death by order of his brother, the monarch.
The public treasury, formed by taxes and tributes, served to defray the
expenses of the church, the government, the military, education, roads and
other public works, not the least important of these being the asylums, in
which all deformed and helpless persons were sheltered and cared for.
certain people being employed to look up such cases. Charity, hospitality,
and veneration for the aged were very marked characteristics. As parents
they were stern. Girls were strictly brought up, industry and modesty
being specially insisted upon. " Even if they raised their eyes to a man's
face their mother would rub pepper in them," says Landa. To-day, when
a young woman is not circumspect, they say, " She seems to have grown
up without a mother."
There were colleges for both sexes of the higher class, also convents.
The nuns lived after the manner of the Roman vestals, and she who failed
THE MAYAS 237
to keep her vows was killed with arrows. But if one desired to leave the
convent and marry, she could do so by special permission of the high
priest. A perpetual fire was kept burning in the temple ; if the vestal in
charge allowed it to go out, she forfeited her life, as in Rome and Greece.
Young men were likewise treated with severity ; and as it was consid-
ered disrespectful to amuse themselves in the presence of their elders, they
had large public buildings where all the youths congregated for recreation.
Their favorite diversions were athletic sports, acting, singing, and dancing.
In reading the old Spanish records that treat of the customs and habits
of these people we come to the conclusion that their code of etiquette
must have been as tiresome and minute as that of the Japanese. They
had a great fancy for making presents to each other, if only a bunch of
flowers, with which they loved to adorn their persons. They were exceed-
ingly fond of fine perfumes.
It must not be supposed that they were idolaters. Ages ago, as far
back as we are able to trace them, the Mayas regarded the great mastodon
as a fit emblem of deity because it was the largest and most powerful
creature known to them. But it was a symbol only, not a god. They
also adored the sun as the source of all light and heat on this planet ; hence
their worship of the fire as an emanation of the great orb. The serpent
form was likewise revered, having first been a representation of their country,
Central America, then of the earth, next of the universe, and finally of the
Creator. But they believed in one unseen, incomprehensible Power, Ku
(Divine Essence), which they did not venture to liken to anything. In the
sixth century the Nahuatls introduced their own peculiar cult, the worship
of the reciprocal forces of nature, emblems of which are found only in the
cities where they ruled, and re-ornamented the buildings to suit their own
ideas.
To-day the Indians in Yucatan are thorough idolaters, having blind
faith in the wooden saints or other images before which they kneel to
promise that they will do certain things as a sacrifice, provided the favors
they ask be granted.
All statues, big and small, found by the Christian Fathers were con-
demned as idols and promptly destroyed. It is to be hoped that in the
far distant future no iconoclasts, laboring under a similar impression,
will commit like acts in Christian churches and demolish the beautiful
works of art now in our cathedrals !
The priests were amazed to find baptism and confession practiced among
the Mayas. The baptismal rite was called Zihil, a word that means " to
be born again," and was celebrated when the children were between three
_\;S THE MAYAS
and twelve years old. It was a very lengthy ceremony, but the principal
thing was to sprinkle the child with water.
Husband and wife confessed one another, the confessor afterward
making it public, so that all might implore Ka to forgive the sinner.
Unmarried people confessed to their priest or physician.
It was their belief that in dying they passed to a place where they
suffered for their wrongdoing, and later progressed to a happy state ; but
that after a lapse of ages they would be reincarnated on this globe.
They feared to see death, grieving excessively at the loss of a friend,
though personally they did not dread passing away. Landa says : " They
were very prone to hang themselves to escape any little trouble." After
the decease of a relation they fasted, especially the husband for his wife.
Anciently they cremated their dead, keeping the ashes in clay or
wooden heads, made in the likeness of the departed. The upper classes
preserved the ashes in urns that were placed in mausolei with stone statues
of the deceased.
At the time of the conquest the lower classes had adopted inhumation,
the grave being dug in the house or at the back of it. They filled the
mouth of the corpse with corn and some of their money — tiny copper bells
and bright red stones. With the body they put some article indicating
the past calling of the defunct, and a few provisions. The house was then
generally abandoned, unless the family was large, in which case they were
less afraid to run the risk of seeing the ghost. The posture given to the
dead was the same as that in vogue among us. One tribe only, in the
mountainous district of Uzumacinta, between Guatemala and Chiapas,
doubled up the limbs and put the face in contact with the knees, binding
the body and placing it upright in a round hole. Before covering it they
put provisions within, for the departed soul to partake of in his journey
to the other world ; also uncooked grain to distribute among the animals
whose bodies he had eaten, so that they might not try to harm him. For
the same reason tortillas were provided for the spirits of the tzomes — small,
hairless dogs whose flesh was much relished : they were bred and fattened
for the sole purpose of being choked in a pit, cooked, and eaten.
The fact that they furnished food for the souls of the tzomes and other
animals shows that these people believed in a future life not only for
themselves but for all creatures.
A PATRIOTIC PARSON
Rev. John Cleaveland, of Essex, Massachusetts, was born in Canter-
bury, Connecticut, April 22, 1722. Little is known of his early life.
Probably, like most country boys of his time, he worked on the farm ; but
he must have been of a studious turn, and have made the most of his op-
portunities, for in his nineteenth year he entered Yale College. During his
college life he met with an experience that showed the independent stamp
of his character which marked him all through life. While at home, on
vacation, he attended, with some of the members of the family and neigh-
bors, a "Separatist" meeting, so called, conducted by a layman. This com-
ing to the knowledge of the college authorities, he was called to account
on his return, on the ground that the act was a sanction of " measures
deemed subversive of the established order of the churches " — which looks,
at this distance of time, as if the churches must have felt their position to
be a somewhat precarious one, since such an act on the part of a college
student was felt to be so dangerous. Young Cleaveland, refusing to submit
tamely in the matter, was duly expelled. As some reparation for the in-
justice, however, his degree was conferred upon him in 1764, and his name
entered on the catalogue among the graduates of the class of 1745. But
this tardy justice was not done until he had gained a somewhat wide repu-
tation for ability and piety.
Soon after he left college, Mr. Cleaveland was licensed to preach, and
his well-known attachment to what was known as the " New Light " move-
ment, and his boldness in its defense, secured for him a call from a society
worshiping in a brick building built by the Huguenots, in School Street,
Boston, to become their pastor. This call he declined, although he acted
as pastor for the society some two years, which connection, no doubt,
helped secure for him the honorary degree of A.M. from Dartmouth
College. About the same time he was invited to take charge of the
" Newly Gathered Congregational Church " in Chebacco Parish, now Essex,
and was ordained February 25, 1747.
The visit of Whitefield to New England in 1740 resulted in a marked
attention to religious things in the community, which, however good in its
results on the whole, was accompanied by many eccentricities and extrav-
agances. Not a few of the churches and ministers of the " Standing
Order " were violently opposed to Whitefield's measures, although they
240 A PATRIOTIC PARSON
had the sanction of the great name of Jonathan Edwards, then in the
zenith of his pulpit influence and power. In September, 1740, White-
held preached in Ipswich, on the hill in front of the meeting-house, " to
some thousands," it is said. In his own diary he wrote, " The Lord gave
me freedom, and there was a great melting in the congregation." He also
visited Chebacco at this time. One of the consequences of his visit and
preaching was the withdrawal of some members from the church and the
formation of the " Separate " Church, before mentioned, in 1746. Mr.
Cleaveland published a pamphlet on the revival in Chebacco, entitled, after
the fashion of the times, " A Plain Narrative," etc. Boston, 1 767.* Ed-
ward Lee, of Manchester, Massachusetts, " the apostolic fisherman," whose
Life was published by the American Tract Society with others, united
with this church, the Rev. Benjamin Tappin, pastor of the church in Man-
chester, not being in sympathy with the " New Light " movement.
In 1758, the patriotic ardor of the Chebacco pastor led him to accept
an appointment as chaplain of Bagley's Massachusetts Regiment, the
" Third Provincial Regiment of Foot." His commission was signed by
Governor Pownal and Secretary Oliver, March 13, 1758. He joined the
regiment at Flatbush, five miles above Albany, June 9, traveling on horse-
back, by way of Worcester and Springfield. His journal embraces sixty-nine
pages,+ and gives an interesting and instructive narrative of General Aber
crombie's ill-managed and disastrous campaign at Lake George. There are
quotations from the journal in Parkman's Montcalm and Wolfe, vol. 2, pp.
7 7, 115, 117, 118, which show the writer to have been a man of quick in-
telligence and independent mind. Bancroft makes mention of Mr. Cleave-
land as one of those " chaplains who preached to the regiments of citizen
soldiers a renewal of the days when Moses, with the rod of God in his hand,
sent Joshua against Amalek." But this use of the Old Testament was al-
most universal in his day, and had been since the times of Cromwell and
his Ironsides. Mr. Cleaveland's brother, Ebenezer, chaplain of another regi-
ment under Abercrombie, was settled at Sandy Bay, now Rockport.
Causes were already at work which resulted in the revolt of the Colonies
from the British Crown. Mr. Cleaveland threw himself with characteristic
zeal into the contest of ideas and principles. He wrote largely for the
newspapers, especially for the Salem Gazette, then, as now, an influential
organ of public opinion. His writings and sermons did much to crystallize
public sentiment on the great problems at issue, which were finally referred
* A copy of this rare tract is in the library of the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester,
and another in that of the Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts.
\ In Essex Institute Collection, vols, xi., xii.
A PATRIOTIC PARSON 24 1
to the stern arbitrament of arms. When the war began, we find the re-
doubtable parson-chaplain in the army again ; this time of Colonel Little's
Regiment, the Seventeenth Foot, Continental Army, enlisted at Cam-
bridge, July- 1, 1775. It was said of him that "he preached all the men
of his parish into the army, and then went himself."
During the war he became well known to Washington, and that friend-
ship forms the basis of the following anecdote : At the time General
Washington visited Ipswich, on his Presidential tour, October 30, 1789,
Parson Cleaveland was among those who went to pay his respects to him.
Approaching with his cocked hat under his arm, Washington recognized
him and said : " Put on your hat, Parson, and I will shake hands with you."
The Parson replied : " I cannot wear my hat in your presence, General,
when I think of what you have done for this country." " You did as
much as I," said the General. " No, no," replied the Parson. " Yes," said
the General, "you did what you could, and I've done no more."*
Another incident belongs to an earlier period. For the defense of the
coast at Cape Ann, a force of militia had been drafted from the inland
towns, which passed through Chebacco and halted and paraded on the
common, where they received their Chebacco fellow-soldiers. According
to the pious custom of the time, prayer was offered by the ardent and pa-
triotic Cleaveland. While he was praying in his stentorian voice, " that the
enemy might be blown " — he was loudly interrupted by an excited soldier
who cried, " to hell and damnation," but the chaplain calmly continued
without altering his tone or seeming to notice the interruption — " to the
land of tyranny from whence they came."
Mr. Cleaveland appears to have been a most impressive speaker. Until
the later years of his life he preached from a brief. On the last Sabbath
but one before his death, he spoke in the pulpit with his usual power and
animation. He was thoroughly evangelical in doctrine, and an earnest
advocate of what was commonly known as the " new measures." Though
an ardent controversialist, he was so benevolent in his disposition and kind
in his manners that he won the respect of opponents ; and under his minis-
try a permanent union was brought about between the church of which he
was pastor and the old church from which it had seceded. Of the benefi-
cent and wide-reaching influence of such a ministry, protracted through
more than half a century, it is difficult to form an estimate. He was a
typical New England minister of the best character. Like Goldsmith's
Village Preacher,
* Salem Gazette, July 30, 1886.
242 A PATRIOTIC PARSON
" Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change his place."
Though pastor of a rural parish, he was known and respected in circles far
removed from his quiet home. The high moral character of the commu-
nity in which he lived, and the large number who had gone out from it to
nil important stations in life, may no doubt be considered in part the results
oi his able and faithful services during the formative period. He is de-
scribed as " tall, yet of fine proportions, and very erect, of a florid coun-
tenance, blue eyes, firm in gait even to old age, moderate in his motions,
but of great muscular strength and activity."
Of Mr. Cleaveland's domestic life little is known ; his first wife was Mary,
daughter of Parker Dodge of the " Hamlet," now Hamilton, Massachusetts ;
his second wife was Mary, widow of Capt. John Foster, of Manchester,
Massachusetts. He had seven children — Mary, John, Parker, Ebenezer,
Elizabeth, Nehemiah and Abigail. Nehemiah became a physician in Tops-
field, Massachusetts, and his daughter Mary married Rev. Oliver A. Taylor,
one of a distinguished family of ministers of old New England lineage.
Mr. Cleaveland died in Essex, April 22, 1799, at tne age of just JJ years,
and in the fifty-third year of his ministry in that town. On his tombstone
in the old graveyard is the following inscription :
This Monument
Perpetuates the Memory and singular Virtues of the
Rev. John Cleaveland, A.M.,
who died April 22d, 1799, which day completed
His 77th Year.
He was ordained to the pastoral office in this place, February 25 (O. S.),
A.D. 1747, and for more than fifty-two years was eminently a faithful
Watchman, being ever ready and apt to teach. His zeal and attention to
the duties of his office evinced the purity of his motives.
It does not come within the scope of this paper to trace the descend-
ants of Mr. Cleaveland. So far as known, however, his numerous posterity,
to the third and fourth generation, have been persons of considerable mark
in the community. The family is an illustration of the fact that certain
qualities seem to " run in the blood," and that not all ministers' children
turn out badly.
Manchester, Massachusetts.
RUNNING-ANTELOPE'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
HISTORIC PICTOGRAPHS
A record of much interest has recently appeared in the report of the
Bureau of Ethnology, illustrating the pictograph of the North American
Indians. Running Antelope was the chief of the Uncpapa Dakota In-
dians, at Grand River, Dakota, in 1873, and the important events in his
career as a warrior have been preserved in this unique fashion by himself.
Mr. Garrick Mallory has made an elaborate investigation of the subject,
which is remarkably full and instructive in all its varied connections. He
says : "The importance of the study of pictographs depends upon their ex-
amination as a phase in the evolution of human culture, or as containing
valuable information to be ascertained by interpretation." Sometimes the
picture discovered has been graphically expressive of an idea, and not a
mere portraiture of an object, in which case it is designated as an ideo-
graph. In other cases, the ingenious material is found to be absolute and
veritable tribal history, although generally of limited local interest, as in
the case of a quaint little account of a prairie fire that destroyed an entire
Indian village, in which many lives were lost.
In the story of his life Running-Antelope introduces an antelope be-
PICTOGRAPH NO.
-THE KILLING OF AN ARIKARA.
RUNNING-ANTELOPE S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
PICTOGKAPH NO. 2. SHOT AND SCALPED AN ARIKARA.
neath the horses to signify the name of the chieftain. The bird upon the
shield refers to the clan. The lance held in the hand signifies that he
killed the enemy with that weapon. In the first figure the pictograph
states that two Arikara Indians were killed in one day. The left-hand
man was shot, as shown by the discharging gun, and afterward struck
with the lance. This occurred in 1853.
In the second figure, the Indian author tells how he shot and scalped
PICTOGRAPH NO. 3.— SHOT AN ARIKAKA.
running-antelope's autobiography
245
PICTOGRAPH NO. 4. — THE KILLING OF TWO WARRIORS.
an Ankara Indian in 1853. The victim was unarmed, as appears from his
gesture — right hand thrown outward with distended fingers — for negation,
" having nothing."
In the fourth figure, we are told that the great chief killed two war-
riors in one day in 1854. In the fifth picture, we are entertained with his
curious showing of how he killed ten men and three squaws in 1856. The
grouping of persons in this drawing strongly resembles the work of the
PICTOGRAPH NO. 5.— THE KILLING OF TEN MEN AND THREE WOMEN.
246
RUNNING-ANTELOPE S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
PICTOGRAPH NO. 6. — THE KILLING OF TWO INDIAN CHIEFS.
ancient Egyptians. The sixth illustration defines the rank of the persons
killed — they were two Arikara chiefs — and shows that Running-Antelope
was wounded in the left thigh. This was in 1856. The scars are said to
be still distinct upon the person of the chief, showing that the arrow really
passed through the thigh. The seventh illustration shows how an Arikara
Indian was killed in 1857, by being struck with a bow, the greatest insult
that can be offered by an enemy. In such instances the victor counts
'KJTOGKAPH NO. 7. — KILLING BY STRIKING THE ENEMY IN TH
RUNNING-ANTELOPE S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
247
PICTOGRAPH NO. 8. — KILLING OF AN ARIKARA.
one coup when relating his exploits in the Council Chamber. The eighth
sketch informs us of the killing of an Indian in 1859, and tne capture of a
horse; the ninth describes the killing of two Arikara hunters in 1859; an<^
the tenth, the killing of five of the enemy in one day, in 1863. The dot-
ted line indicates the trail which Running-Antelope followed, and when the
Indians discovered they were pursued, they took shelter in an isolated copse
of shrubbery, where they were dispatched at leisure. The eleventh and
last illustration chronicles the killing of an Arikara in 1865. Mr. Mallory
PICTOGRAPH NO. 9. — KILLING OF TWO ARIKARA HUNTERS.
24»
RUNNING-ANTELOPE S AUTOBIOGRAPHY
PICTOGRAPH NO. IO.— KILLING OF FIVE INDIANS.
says that the Arikara are delineated as wearing the top-knot of hair, simi-
lar to that practiced by the Absaroka, the most inveterate enemies of the
Sioux ; as the word Pallani for Arikara is applied to all enemies, the Crow
custom may have been depicted as a generic mark. The practice of paint-
ing the forehead red, also an Absaroka custom, serves to distinguish the
pictures as individuals of one of the two tribes.
PICTOGRAPH NO. II. — THE KILLING OF AN ARIKARA.
MINOR TOPICS
H. C. VAN SCHAACK'S HISTORICAL TREASURES
Editor of Magazine of American History :
I perceive that you have published, in the August number of your Magazine, a
brief notice of my collection of Revolutionary Manuscripts. Had my esteemed
friend who wrote that article informed me that he intended to do so and to pub-
lish it, I should have given him opportunity for preparing a fuller description. As
he only made a brief friendly call, at my house, of less than half an hour, when
I showed him my work, you will perceive how limited was his opportunity for ex-
amining the contents of three large folio volumes containing about nine hundred
pages of matter. His brief account is correct as far as it goes. I deem it proper,
however, under the circumstances, and that it should not subject me to the charge
of vanity, to place before your readers a more complete sketch of a work which
has been to me a labor of love, at intervals of leisure, for half a century. The
general title of it is :
" An Autographic History of the American Revolution, consisting of Original
Letters and other Writings of Revolutionary Characters ; Illustrated by Engravings,
and elucidated by Historical and Biographical Articles in Print ; comprised in
Three Folio Volumes. Compiled by Henry C. Van Schaack, Author of the Life
of Peter Van Schaack, LL.D."
Irrespective of its engravings, and numerous Revolutionary documents to
which are subscribed a large number of original signatures, and irrespective also
of very many single autographic signatures of eminent Revolutionary characters,
and of a large amount of selected historical and biographical matter in print in-
corporated in these three volumes, there are perfect letters in the handwriting of
George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Mon-
roe, and the two Revolutionary boys — John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson ;
all seven of whom successively became Presidents of the United States, in the first
century of our existence as a nation.
In these precious volumes are also preserved perfect letters of Benjamin Frank-
lin, General Richard Montgomery, John Jay, John Marshall, Bushrod Washington,
John Hancock, William Livingston, James Bowdoin, Joseph Hawley, William Bol-
lan, Philip Livingston, William Bayard, General Heath, William Lee, Richard-
Stockton, James Duane, General Philip Schuyler, Peter Van Brugh Livingston,
General James Warren, Jonathan Trumbull, John Haring, Thomas Lynch, Andrew
Allen, Francis Lewis, General Pierre Van Cortland, William Carmichael, Christo-
pher P. Yates, Theodore Sedgwick, General Horatio Gates, Jacob Cuyler, Alexan-
der Hamilton, Aaron Burr, Joseph Bloomfleld, Thomas McKean, Jeremiah Wads-
Vol XVIII.-No. 3-17
250 MINOR TOPICS
worth, Robert Troup, Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, George Clinton, General James
Clinton, De Witt Clinton, Moses Younglove, Henry Laurens, General Alexander
Scammell, Morgan Lewis, William Popham, William Whipple, General John Sulli-
van, John Sloss Hobart, William Irvine, General Nathaniel Greene, Samuel Hunt-
ington, Elbridge Gerry, Joseph Reed, Richard Frothingham, Charles Pinckney,
General Henry Knox, Elias Boudinot, William Paca, Timothy Pickering, Oliver
Wolcott, Governeur Morris, Benjamin Harrison, Benjamin Rush, Richard Henry
Lee, Egbert Benson, Robert Yates, John Dickinson, Samuel Jones, Samuel Osgood,
Rufus King, Samuel Huntington, John Pintard, Nicholas Gilman, General Benjamin
Lincoln, Arthur Lee, Robert R. Livingston, Robert Morris, Joel Barlow, Baron
Steuben, William Eustis, Charles Carroll, Peter R. Livingston, Samuel Adams, Jede-
diah Morse, Jeremy Belknap, Gunning Bedford, General Anthony Wayne, Thomas
Mifflin, Colonel Richard Varick, Brockholst Livingston, Matthew Clarkson, James
McHenry, Isaiah Thomas, Aaron Ogden, Henry A. S. Dearborn, John Langdon,
John Armstrong, La Fayette, and John Brown ; also letters of Henry Cruger, Jr.,
the colleague of Edmund Burke in the British Parliament.
To this long list many other worthy names could be added. But I must here
give place to a patriotic letter written by General Benedict Arnold a short time be-
fore his great fight at Saratoga :
" Caughnawaga, Aug't 16th, 1777.
Gentlemen :
I have to beg the favor of your repeatedly sending out small Scouts No. West
from your place to discover the motions & numbers of the enemy if any should
attempt to reinforce the enemy in this quarter from Fort George or Edwards ; &
that you will give me the earliest intelligence of any discovery made, which will
mutch oblige,
Your most Ob4, Humble Serv1,
B. Arnold.
To the General Committee of Schenectady."
In this place, most opportunely for the order of my history, comes an interest-
ing letter written by Colonel M. B. Whiting, in August, 1777, to Mr. Barclay, of
Albany, in which the Colonel reverently exclaims : " For the successes of our Arms
at Bennington & Fort Schuyler let God have all the Praise ! "
I possess letters written by the three British officers, General Burgoyne, H.
Watson Powell, and William Phillipps after their capture at Saratoga. A long
letter is preserved, written by Samuel Holden Parsons, whose intercourse with
the British has only recently come to light. He was an early emigrant to the
Great West and was drowned in a Western river. I have the original paper, in the
handwriting of Colonel John Brown, addressed to General Gates, in which Colonel
Brown arraigns Arnold for various gross and treasonable acts ; and other papers in
regard to the difficulties between Brown and Arnold.
Here are letters also from Beverley Robinson, Oliver Delancey, Sir William and
MINOR TOPICS 251
Sir John Johnson ; also of the two Englishmen, Benjamin Vaughan and William
Vaughan ; also of William Scott, who became the great Lord Eldon and Lord
Chancellor of England. Here also is autographically represented the Count Flo-
rida de Blan-ca, Prime Minister of Spain during the Revolution.
Henry C. Van Schaack
Manlius, August 1, 1887.
THE STORY OF THE EARTHQUAKE
When the bells of St. Michael's Church, in Charleston, chimed the third quarter
after nine o'clock on the evening of Tuesday, August 31, 1886, their familiar tones
spoke peace, and peace alone, to the many happy homes on every side, within whose
sheltering walls the people of a fair and prosperous city had gathered to rest before
taking up the burdens of another busy day. There was no whispered warning in
the well-known sounds or in any subdued voice of the night to hint of the fearful
calamity so near at hand. Not the unconscious bells themselves were less suspi-
cious of coming ill than were they whom their sweetly solemn notes summoned, as
at other times, to seek forgetfulness in sleep.
The streets of the city were silent and nearly deserted. Overhead the stars
twinkled with unwonted brilliancy in a moonless, unclouded sky. The waters of
the wide harbor were unruffled by even a passing breeze. Around the horizon the
dark woodlands hung like purple curtains, shutting out the world beyond, as though
nature itself guarded the ancient city hidden within the charmed circle. Earth and
sea alike seemed wrapped in a spell of hushed and profound repose, that reflected
as in a mirror the quiet of the blue eternal heavens bending over all. It was upon
such a scene of calm and silence that the shock of the great earthquake fell with
the suddenness of a thunderbolt launched from the starlit skies ; with the might of
ten thousand thunderbolts falling together ; with a force so far surpassing all other
forces known to men that no similitude can truly be found for it. The firm foun-
dation upon which every home had been built in unquestioning faith in its stability
for all time was giving way ; the barriers of the great deep were breaking up. To
the ignorant mind it seemed, in truth, that God had laid His hand in anger upon
His creation. The great and the wise, knowing little more, fearing little less than
the humblest of their wretched fellow creatures, bowed themselves in awe as before
the face of the Destroying Angel. For a few moments all the inhabitants of the
city stood together in the presence of death in its most terrible form, and perhaps
scarcely one doubted that all would be swallowed together, and at once, in one
wide, yawning grave.
The picture is not overdrawn, since it cannot be overdrawn. The transition
from a long-established condition of safety and peacefulness to one of profound
and general danger and terror was absolute and instantaneous. Within seven min-
252 MINOR TOPICS
utes after the last stroke of the chime, and while its echoes seemed yet to linger in
listening ears, Charleston was in ruins. And the wreck had been accomplished in
one and the last minute of the seven. Millions of dollars' worth of property, the
accumulation of nearly two centuries, had been destroyed in the time a child would
take to crush a frail toy. Every home in the city had been broken or shattered,
and beneath the rums lay the lifeless or bruised and bleeding bodies of men, women
and children, who had been stricken down in the midst of such security as may be
felt by him who reads these lines at any remote distance of time or space.
The cyclone of the year before was truly terrifying in its most furious stages,
but was several hours in reaching those stages. When the storm had passed away
it was found that no one had been killed in the city. Many houses were damaged,
indeed, but the damage wTas nearly confined to their roofs, and very many buildings
were unscathed. The earthquake came at one stride ; lasted not longer than
a minute; but, besides multiplying fourfold the loss of property caused by the
storm, slew and wounded its victims by the score. When the cyclone raged at its
worst the affrighted citizens found shelter within their dwellings. On the shock of
the earthquake the first and strongest, the irresistible impulse, was to flee without
the threatening walls — to dare the peril in the streets in the hope of escaping the
certain fate that menaced every one who tarried for an instant under their shadow.
After the storm the sunshine brought light and rest and gladness in its train. The
earthquake was followed by hours of darkness, relieved only by the glare of burn-
ing ruins. The morning sun lit up a scene of devastation such as never before
greeted the eyes of the weary watchers, revealing to them the extent of the danger
through which they had passed, and to which they were momentarily exposed anew.
It was a fearful ordeal throughout, even for the strongest and bravest, and the ten-
der and the timid were exposed to its full fury. There is no possibility of exag-
gerating its horrors to any one who recalls the occurrences of the night with even
a gleam of recollection of their dread import, and of the thoughts and emotions
that they inspired. — Extracts from Carl McKinleys Historical Sketch of the Earth-
quake, 1886, in the Charleston Year Book.
THE CAPTURED BATTLE FLAGS
Yesterday in walking through the immense granite pile of the State, War and
Navy departments, I was taken with the curiosity to see the battle flags which have
set the country in an uproar. Turning to the right from the main corridor of the
building on the second floor, I entered the commodious apartments of the adjutant-
general's office, and found myself confronting, at a corner desk in one of the rooms,
a rather low-statured man of well-fed form and placid face, with his coat off like an
ordinary clerk, bending to his work, alternately mopping the heat from his forehead
and signing orders. This individual looked as little as possible like kindling the
MINOR TOPICS 253
memories of a great rebellion or starting the world on flame in any quarter. The
heat of the day seemed all-sufficient for his energies. All the same, it was General
Drum, adjutant-general of the United States army, whose autograph on a slip of
paper addressed to Mr. Cleveland, a few weeks ago, and recommending the dis-
tribution over the country of a variety of tattered bunting in the garret of the
War Office, set the country by the ears, and is likely to play a considerable role in
a coming campaign for an American President. I had been told that Adjutant-Gen-
eral Drum was extremely sensitive to the inquiiies of visitors concerning this same
bunting, any mention of the sore subject having come to act on his nerves like the
flutter of certain other flags on those of a Spanish bull. I was agreeably surprised,
therefore, on informing this gentleman that I had witnessed in the old days of the
rebellion the spectacle of the arrival of many of these flags in the War Department,
fresh from the battle-fields on which they were captured, and of my wish to again
inspect them, at being met with the blandest of smiles and promptly put in charge
of an attendant with full instructions to aid my mission.
Carried by an elevator five stories up, under the roof the War Department, almost
burning in this Washington summer weather, the key being turned by my guide in
the door of an attic room, I stood an instant later in a little space hardly more than
ten feet square, nearly within reaching distance on all sides of these battered me-
mentos of the war, the very mention of which has set afire the hearts of sixty millions
of people — a few rags saturated with the explosive wash of patriotism ! But the first
thought on seeing them in this pent-up space of attic is of the smallness of the cause
to the size of the effect. The flags heaped about the room appear at first sight only
a handful at the most, but counted separately there are 750 in all, over five hun-
dred of them being Confederate and the remainder Federal flags recaptured from
their captors. One-half of the entire number are attached to their staves as they
were originally taken, the flags of the two sections being stacked in separate masses
against two sides of the room, facing each other, half folded and protruding from
pigeon-holes on the opposite walls. The sight of the Stars and Stripes keeps always
familiar. But the first look at the dark red heap of the banners of rebellion, piled
here against the side of the attic, blots out twenty-five years from the memory, and
brings back as if it were yesterday the red years when they waved at the head
of their regiments. There is hardly a flag among them all that has not its history
recorded in the book in the hands of the keeper in the room. All nearly are riddled
with bullets, and many, like those carried through such battles as the Wilderness
and the second Bull Run, were shot literally into tatters and almost unrecognizable
sprays of rag.
The contrast in the appearance of the Southern and Union standards is signi-
ficant of the history of the war. The latter are rigged on clean, polished poles and
are of firm, rich material, many of them of silk, showing an abundance in the North
of the fabrics of which they continued to be made. The majority of the Confede-
rate flags are of the wretchedest shoddy bunting, miserable in color, as in substance,
254 MINOR TOPICS
while great numbers of them are mounted on rude, unbarked gads and saplings*
hastily cut from the woods on the march — recalling the blockade and the pinching
days when war had fallen on a section without manufactures, and the intense des-
perate purpose of a people forgot seemliness and absorbed every thought but the
winning of their fight.
Many of the flags lying folded in the boxes and taken out to be exhibited by the
guardian of the room recall still more vividly the narrow straits of rebellion on its
last legs, being literally independent of discrimination in color, and made of patches
from women's dresses and underskirts of nearly every hue and material — pitiful
reminders of the Spartan poverty and courage that were still to fail of their end.
There are some exceptions, however, in this storeroom of battle trophies, to these
mementos of the sterner days of the war for the South. The attendant drew from
the pigeon holes on the walls and unfolded for my inspection three or four mag-
nificent banners of heavy silk, fringed with tassels of gold and ornamented with
pictures in oil and rich embroiderings on a field of blue. These flags represent
the early and halcyon days of the Lost Cause, when they were made by local asso-
ciations of ladies and presented to the military organizations which carried them.
One of those flags belonged to the Appalachicola Guard, whose name is
stitched in gold letters on its folds above the exultant mottoes : " In God is our
Trust ! " " Our Rights We Will Maintain ! " The finest of them all is the banner
" presented by the ladies of Norfolk to the Norfolk Light Artillery," with an oil
portrait of Washington in the center of its field, the mottoes on the reverse side
being the same as those of the flag just described. The days when the Con-
federate armies could afford such luxury in ensigns quickly passed away, however,
as is evidenced by this collection, representing every period of the war. In the
beginning of the rebellion, the design of the flag carried by the Southern regi-
ments was that of the Stars and Bars — two red bars and one white — changing
at a later period to a red field with the Southern Cross, resembling the British
Union Jack. A study of the record kept by the War Department of the name and
capture of each of these flags, though a work of days, would be of intense interest
to the veteran soldier. It would recall to him the episodes of triumph on half the
fields of the rebellion. The sight of the flags themselves would do something
more — quickening his heart-beats with memories of the great fight. That not a
few of these standards have been the centers of deadly personal encounter is evi-
dent from the numerous blood-stains still traceable upon them. The staves also,
of many of them, are ragged with the gnaw of bullets, the lead in some instances
piercing their centers and remaining imbedded in the wood. Everything, in fact,
in the appearance of the whole collection, as it is piled here in the narrow garret,
faded and soiled and tattered, shows that these are no banners of holiday parade,
but have passed through the fire and extremity of actual war — the sorrowful
weeds blasted and fallen from its wrath. For myself, not a soldier, but a resident
of Washington during the war period, I recalled the stirring incidents of their
MINOR TOPICS 255
presentation to the War Department as they were brought straight from the fields
of their capture. On one of these occasions thirty of these standards, as 1 re-
member, were carried here two days after the fight at Winchester by a delegation
of soldiers whose hands had actually seized them in the fight, Custer, with his long,
yellow hair, at their head. Stanton, the grim Secretary, unbent. Stanton loved
results, and these were the palpable evidences of triumph. Coming out of the lion's
den of his office, he took each soldier by the hand and welcomed them as a body
with a speech. As the little group stood before his door listening to his address,
the captured standards held above their heads in the narrow hall of the old War
Department made a picturesque cloud of color, which, together with the entire
scene, it was not easy to forget. When the affajr was over the soldiers started
again for the field, and Stanton, taking Custer's arm, walked slowly down the steps
of the War Office. Such was his habit with any of the brilliant leaders of the war
after a visit to his department.
William Jackson Armstrong
Washington, July 22, 1887.
—[New York World, July 24, 1887.]
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Memorandum of the Route pursued by Colonel Campbell and his column of invasion,
in 1 7 79, from Savannah to Augusta j with a Narrative of occurrences connected
with his march, and a record of some of the ffiilitary events which transpired in
that portion of the Province of Georgia during the War of the Revolution.
[From the original Manuscript in the Abertaff collection.]
Annotated by Colonel Charles C. fones, fr., LL. D.
Augusta, Georgia.
" When Col° Campbell established the posts at Cherokee-hill, Abercorn,
Zubille's Ferry,* Ebenezer, The Two Sisters, and Tuccassee King, he returned
to Savannah the 6th of January to meet Gen1 Prevost whom he expected there to
take upon him the chief Command of the troops in Georgia and this part of the
Southern District. Soon after their first Interview Col° Campbell proposed to
march with 1200 men to Augusta to clear that part of the Province of Rebels, and
to protect such Inhabitants as chose to return to the Allegeance of The King.
With this View he began his march from Ebenezer the 24th Jany, but his Corps did
not exceed 900 men.
Too sanguine people gave hopes that the very sight of the King's troops in that
quarter would be the means of collecting a considerable number of loyal Subjects
from the Carolinas and Georgia that would be willing to accompany the King's
troops wherever the Service required. Assurances were also given that a large
body of Indians would join at Augusta. The Country people met with every (too
great; indulgence. Confidence and Encouragement they had so soon as they took
the Oath of Allegiance, their own arms returned to them, or better Arms, and Am-
munition given. They promissed to form into Companys and give every Assist-
ance possible to promote The King's Service.
The following Memorandums will explain a little of the Roads and Country that
Col0 Campbell marched thro': and a few circumstances that occurred while he was
with this Corps, in the Upper Country.
* Zubly's Ferry.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
257
Some Distances taken from the South Carolina and Georgia Almanack.
Miles
15
From Savannah
To Backers
" Cronenberg
" Mrs Bele near
Tucasee King \
Robert Hudson's
Blacks
Beaver Dams
Ogilvies
Halifax Court House
Briar Creek
MacBean's
Augusta
11
9
13
7
27
6
o
13
13
116
By Water.
From Savannah.
To Augustine Creek
" Skiddaway Point
" The Narrows
" Hangman's Point
" S'. Catharine Sound
Cross the Sound
" Sappelo Sound
" Doughboy Island
" Frederica
" Jekyl
" Cumberland
" S\ Mary's
" Nassau River
" Sc. John
" Augustine
Mil.
5
8
5
12
14
4
14
14
20
9
10
20
10
S
40
193
Memorandums
of the Road and the March of a Corps of Troops from Savannah to Augusta, and
some subsequent Occurrences.
The Road from Savannah to Cherokee-hill (distant eight miles) is very smooth
and level but somewhat sandy. It has in general a small narrow ditch upon each
side to prevent its being overflowed from deep and extensive swamps that border
it in different places, and although raised above the common level, yet in a rainy-
season it is, in many parts, covered with water so as to be even impassable. The
Ground, immediately to the right and left of the road is covered with wood, and
so thick and close in some swamps, that a foot passenger cannot get thro' them.
The dry ground is for the most part a pine-barren so open as to be easily run thro'
by foot or horse :
There are different valuable plantations to the right hand upon the bank of the
River Savannah, belonging some to rebels, others to better Subjects. There are a
few bridges to pass, but easily kept in repair. Cherokee-hill * is a small Plantation
apparently lately settled.
From Cherokee-hill to Abercornf is six miles. The road is nearly the same as
* It was here that Colonel Campbell encampt the 2d of January 1779 with the first part of His
Majesty's troops that marched up the Country after the taking of Savannah.
f Located in 1733 on a branch of the Savannah river, three miles above its confluence with
that stream, and about fifteen miles above the town of Savannah. Ten families were assigned to
its original settlement, and the plan of the village embraced twelve lots, with two trust lots in
addition, — one on either side. All efforts to develop this place into a settlement of importance
eventuated in disappointment.
25S ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
to the last Stage, in some parts a little more sandy, but in general less swampy.
Some Plantations that line the Road vary the Scene and make it more pleasing.
The house of Abercorn is fine and spacious, and built in more taste than the Situ-
ation deserves. It is upon the Bank of a Creek that runs into the Savannah about
3 miles below Purisburg, and navigable for small Craft to Mill-Creek (where it
branches to the Savannah) and for Canoes and Boats (by Mill Creek) to Ebenezer
bridge.
From Abercorn * to Ebenezer is eleven miles. The road is the same as the last
mentioned, smooth and well made. The Plantations that are seen from it appear
to be good soil, and yield plenty of indian Corn, Rice, and some Rye. Different
Creeks that are supplied with water from Swamps &ca discharge it in course of this
Stage into the Savannah. There is a ferry f (called Zubilee's J) upon the River 3
miles below Ebenezer § on this side and about 2^ above Purisbourg on the Caro-
lina shore. It is difficult to be got to on this side, especially in wet weather, upon
account of two Creeks and intervening deep Swamps that must be passed to get to
the boat, and then the River is rapid. The Creek which crosses the road near
Ebenezer is deep, and impassable while the bridge is down, if some other contriv-
ance is not substituted in place of it.
* Here there was a Post established and strengthened with a Redoubt. The Light Dragoons
were some time cantoned, for the conveniency of Forrage, upon a Rebel Plantation in this Neigh-
borhood. It was here likewise that the troops embarked the 28th of April to penetrate into
S Carolina, partly through the Swar_«ps at Yamacee, (where some of our Galleys were stationed),
and partly in boats up the River to Purisburg.
f Zubly's ferry was an important point of inter-communication between the provinces of
Georgia and South Carolina. It was here, in September 1779, that General Lincoln crossed his
command to form a junction with the French army led by Count D'Estaing. By the same route
he retreated towards Charles-Town, after the repulse of the Allied Army before the British lines
around Savannah.
X There was a Post fixt at Crouss's Plantation, fronting a Bridge and Passage thro' the Swamp
from this side to the ferry, and upon the other side (in Carolina) the Rebels kept a Station com-
monly of men. The Intricacy of crossing the River, Creeks, and Swamps, in Canoes or
on Rafts near this post, tempted and enduced several Deserters from both sides to risk their
Lives.
§ The removal of the Saltzburgers from Old to New Ebenezer, under the sanction of Ogle-
thorpe, occurred in February 1736. At least it then began, and was wholly compassed during that
and the ensuing year.
For an account of the important memories of this town, see "Dead Towns of Georgia," by
Charles C. Jones. Jr. pp. n-44. Savannah, 1878.
To be continued.
NOTES
259
NOTES
Souvenirs of the arctic ship Res-
olute— The. article recalling the interest-
ing incidents in the history of the Arctic
discovery ship Resolute, in our August
number, has elicited the interesting in-
formation that two stately chairs were
made in 1880 from an oaken timber of
this noted ship, and are now in this
country. When this ship was condemned
and ordered to be broken up, early in
1880, Mayor Courtenay, of Charleston,
South Carolina, applied through an in-
fluential English friend to the Admiralty
for a section of one of the oak timbers
of the Resolute, which request was
granted. Mayor Courtenay, among the
other uses of this seasoned oak, caused
to be made two handsome chairs of state
in the Gothic style, one of which was
presented to the city of Boston on the
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
the founding of that city in September,
1880, and the other has been in use for
the mayor's seat in the Council Chamber
of Charleston, South Carolina, ever
since that time. Boston and Charleston
therefore each has a valued souvenir
from this historic ship.
The umbrella in history — The
history of the umbrella is not without in-
terest. Hanway, the famous traveler
and philanthropist, who returned to
England in 1750, is said to have been
the first Englishman who carried an
umbrella. Wolfe, the conqueror of Que-
bec, wrote from Paris, in 1752, speaking
of the umbrella as in general use in that
city, and expressed much wonder that so
convenient an article had not yet reached
England. An old Scotch footman, named
John MacDonald, writes in his curi-
ous autobiography, that he brought an
umbrella to London in 1778, and per-
sisted in carrying it in wet weather,
though a jeering crowd followed him,
crying, " Frenchman, why don't you get
a coach ? " He had found the umbrella
in France, where he had been traveling
with his master. Defoe described an
umbrella as one of the contrivances of
Robinson Crusoe, and umbrellas were
in consequence at one time called
" Robinsons." Mr. Lecky says, umbrel-
las were long regarded as a sign of ex-
treme effeminacy, and they multiplied
very slowly. Dr. Jamieson, in 1782, is
said to have been the first person who
used one at Glasgow, and Southey's
mother, who was born in 1752, was
accustomed to say, that she remembered
the time when anyone would have been
hooted who carried one in the streets of
Bristol. A single coarse cotton umbrella
was often kept in a coffee-house to be
lent out to the customers, or in a private
house to be taken out with the carriage
and held over the heads of ladies as
they got in or out ; but for many years
those who used umbrellas in the streets
were exposed to the insults of the mob,
and to the persistent and very natural
animosity of the hackney coachman,
who bespattered them with mud and
lashed them furiously with their whips.
But the manifest convenience of the
new fashion secured its ultimate triumph,
and before the close of the century um-
brellas had passed into general use."
200
NOTES
Postal service in the spanish-por-
tuguese colonies in america, 180o.
" Perhaps some account of the corre-
spandencia ultra marina, or of the packet-
boats sent to the Spanish and Portuguese
colonies, may not be unacceptable ; as
even Bourgoing makes no mention of the
former, although they have been estab-
lished ever since the year 1764.
There are, in Corunna, seven frigates
and six brigantines ; the former of from
j 60 to 350 tons, and 12 to 20 guns, the
latter of 120 to 150 tons, and 16 to 20
guns. At the beginning of every month
both in time of war and peace, one of
these vessels sails to the Havannah,
carries letters for all the Spanish colonies
in America, and touches at Puerto-Rico.
From the Havannah, another sails to
Veracruz ; and likewise to and fro be-
tween Puerto-Rico, Cartagena, Porto-
Bello, and Panama. From Puerto-Rico
packets are dispatched every two months
to Buenos- Ayres ; and thence, in the
same order, to Chili, Peru, and the
Philippines. Besides this, since the year
1767, a packet-boat sails every two
months from Corunna for Buenos- Ayres,
Chili, Peru, and the Philippines, to Mon-
tevideo, whence the letters are forwarded
in the manner above mentioned.
To facilitate the inland communica-
tion, posts are established from Vera-
cruz to Mexico, and from the other sea-
ports to the interior of the country. A
road has been made across the Cordil-
leras, and arricros, or muleteers, traverse
and convey travelers through the prov-
inces, as in Spain.
All the above-mentioned embarcaciones
correos carry some articles of merchan-
dize ; and, by particular permission, like-
wise passengers. The price of about
one hundred and fifty piastres is paid
for such a passage, and the voyage gen-
erally lasts from fifty to sixty days. The
postage of a letter to Lima, amounts
to three piastres.
From Lisbon, likewise, regular packet-
boats sail to the Portuguese settlements
in America ; but only since the com-
mencement of the year 1798. Every
two months one is dispatched to Assa,
direct ; and a second to Bahid, and
thence to Riojaneyro. And in the in_
terior of Brasil, and in the island of
Madeira and the Azores, posts have now
first been established. That there may
be a sufficient revenue to defray the
expenses of these packet-boats, no let-
ters are permitted to be sent by other
ships from Portugal to the colonies ;
but in Spain there is no restriction in this
respect. C. A. Fisher "
Monthly Magazine and American Review,
vol. III. 28S.
Petersfield
The use of words — Many things
worth remembering are to be found in
the little book recently issued from the
pen of Elroy M. Avery, Ph.D., of Cleve-
land. He says : " There are few sights
more sorry than that of a person trying
to cover poverty of thought with luxuri-
ance of verbiage. Do not use a word
unless you are sure you both know its
meaning and understand its correct
use. If you look into a dictionary and
find that qui vive signifies alert, it does
not impose on you any obligation to tell
your next caller that your most intimate
enemy is a very bright person, ' so very
much qui vive' "
QUERIES
26l
QUERIES
Barges — Editor of Magazine of
American History : Will some of your
readers tell' us whether it is proper to
call the vehicle that runs for the public
accommodation in Fifth Avenue any
longer an omnibus ? We clip the follow-
ing query and reply from the Journal of
Commerce of July 20, 1887 :
New Haven, Conn, July 16, 1887.
Editor of the Journal of Coimnerce :
As you so kindly answer knotty ques-
tions when puzzled ignorance knows not
where else to apply, please tell me by
what authority " cultured Boston " terms
a large vehicle on wheels to carry pas-
sengers and drawn by horses " a barge " ?
The term was used when members of the
Historical Association were visiting
there, and to some from New York was
a very new and inexplicable use of the
word. Subscriber's Wife
Reply — If your fair correspondent
will look at a picture of the old state
barges formerly used on the Thames she
will see why the long rooms on wheels
bear the same name. The Mayor of
London had his state barge, and each
of the livery companies of London
owned a similar craft for state occasions.
At last advices a number of these were
drawn up by the river's side on Christ-
church meadow, and used by the
students of Oxford University for club
smoking-rooms. The huge omnibuses
used for state excursions were of like
structure above the water line, and hence
took the same name.
New York, July 15, 1887.
We observe that this class of vehicles
are called "barges" in New Haven.
Shall New York loiter behind the New
England cities in the correct use of
terms ? Have we not " barges " in Fifth
Avenue ! Mr. Lofty
Fifth Avenue, New York.
The sabbath — WThen was the Sab-
bath proclaimed a legal day of rest ?
Edward Emmons
Mikwaukee, Wisconsin.
Church-bells — When and where was
the first church-bell cast in Ameri-
ca ? The Liberty-bell in Philadelphia,
according to the inscription upon it,
was cast in that city in 1753 by Pass &
Stow. It was in fact recast, having
been imported the year before. It
cracked on the first trial, and so needed
recasting. Had not Pass & Stow or
other American founders cast bells at
an earlier period ? If so, when and
where ? Brass founders in Philadelphia
are mentioned as early as 17 17. Were
there none as early in New England ?
James D. Butler
Madison, Wisconsin.
Alien disabilities — In our colonial
period all settlers not of English birth
and not naturalized, though taxed and
forced to serve in municipal offices,
" were in all other respects debarred
from the rights and privileges of natural
born subjects." Such is the statement
in the proceedings of the Massachusetts
Historical Society, 1858-60, p. 349.
What were those rights and privileges ?
James D. Butler
Madison, Wisconsin.
'62
REFLIES
REPLIES
Casting a shoe after a bride
[xviii. 169] — From very ancient practices
came the old custom in England and
Scotland of throwing an old shoe after
a bride on her departure for a new home,
to signify that the parents gave up all
right or dominion over this daughter.
Reference is made in Scripture to differ-
ent symbolical usages in connection with
sandals or shoes. The delivery of a
shoe was used as a testimony in trans-
ferring a possession. A man plucked
off his shoe and gave it to his neighbor ;
and this was a testimony in Israel. The
throwing of a shoe on property was a
symbol of new ownership, as " Over
Edom will I cast out my shoe " (Ps. lx.
8). In Anglo-Saxon times the father
delivered the bride's shoe to the bride-
groom, who touched her on the head to
show his authority. In Turkey the
bridegroom after marriage is chased by
the wedding-guests, and pelted with slip-
pers by way of adieu. — S. H. Killikellys
Curious Questions.
The origin of this singular custom
seems to be fully explained in the first
sentence to this paragraph. A. B. C.
Pittsburgh, dutchess county, new
york [xviii. 82] — J. H. S. inquires,
" Where is or was Pittsburgh, Dutchess
County, New York, and what is the
present title of the Presbyterian Church
of Pittsburgh of which Rev. John Clark
was pastor in 1803." J. H. S. has evi-
dently mistaken the name. Fredricks-
burg was one of the towns of Dutchess
County, and is now Paterson, Putnam
County, New York. The records of the
church in that place state that Rev.
John Clark " came May 13, 1800, and
remained ten months." He was also
there subsequently.
Wm. S. Pelletreau
Boodle [xviii. 82, 171] — The word
" Boodle " is undoubtedly Dutch. Sew-
el's Dictionary defines it : " Boedel,
Household stuff — also an estate left behind
by those that are deceased."
Other forms given are Boel and Im-
boel, or Inboel, household stuff, goods,
chattels. Geo. C. Hurlbut
American Geographical Society.
Change in the English calen-
dar [xviii. 170] — Julius Caesar or-
dered that the year should be held to
consist of 365^ days. This is more than
eleven minutes too long. The fraction
of the days in 4 years makes the extra
day of February. In about 128 years
the difference amounts to a day — in 1,280
years, to 10 days. Between the year
325 (Council of Nice) and 1582, the
error in the reckoning was 10 days.
Pope Gregory XIII. ordered that the
day following the 4th of October, 1582,
should be called the 15 th — thus skipping
the 10 days. In the Julian Calendar —
which is old style — each year divisible by
4 was a leap year. In the Gregorian
Calendar it was ordered as a correction,
to prevent error in the future, that the
centennial years 1709, 1800, etc., not
being divided by 400 as well as by 4,
should be called common years of 365
days. In countries which had adopted
the new style, the year 1700 was a com-
REPLIES
263
mon year of 365 days, but England at
that time was using the old style, and
called 1700 a leap year — giving Febru-
ary 29 days. So, after midnight of the
28th of February, 1700, the difference
became eleven days. The year in Eng-
land was then held to begin on the 25th
of March. But in 1751, Parliamen
passed an act making January 1 the be-
ginning of the year, and also requiring
that the day following the 2d of Septem
ber, 1752, should be called, not the third
but the fourteenth — skipping the eleven
days — difference between old style and
new.
Christian nations in general now use
the new style, but Russia, and other peo-
ples adhering to the Greek Church, still
use the old or Julian style.
R. W. McFarland
Miami University, Oxford, Ohio.
Change in the English calen,
dar [xviii. 170] — In 1751 a bill passed
the English Parliament for the re-forma-
tion of the calendar. Its success was
chiefly due to the tact and energy of the
Earl of Chesterfield who introduced it,
but he was ably supported by Lord Mac-
clesfield, afterward President of the
Royal Society, and Bradley the astrono-
mer. The two last named were, doubt-
less, the real framers of the bill. It
ordained that the year 1752 should
begin on the first of January, instead of
on the 25th of March as had been the
custom hitherto ; and that the 2d of
September of the year 175 1 should be
followed by the 14th. Between these
two dates the eleven days — nominal only,
however — were dropped to make the
calendar agree with that of most of
the continental countries of Europe,
for Sweden had net then, and Russia
has not yet made the change from old
style to new. Some authorities name
October as the month in which the
change was made ; but, I think, wrongly.
An account of the popular opposition to
this useful measure furnishes a curious
yet painful chapter in the history of su-
perstition. Many persons, most of them
of the class that generally regard time as
the least valuable of all possessions, were
indignant because they believed that
Parliament had actually shortened their
lives by eleven days.
Athens, Ohio. Chas. W. Super
Change in the English calen-
dar [xviii. 170] — An act of Parliament
was passed in 175 1 for the adoption of
the " Gregorian Calendar " in Great
Britain. The passage of this act was
due in a large measure to Lord Chester-
field, ably aided by Lord Macclesfield
and Bradley the astronomer. This
act ordained that eleven days should be
left out of the month of September, 1752,
and accordingly, on the second day of
that month the old style ceased, and the
third day became the fourteenth. By
the same act the beginning of the year
was changed from the 25th of March to
the first of January. These changes met
with a good deal of ignorant opposition,
and the common " Opposition " election
cry was : " Give us back our eleven
days." Some papers bearing on the mat-
ter, written by Chesterfield and Walpole,
will be found in the World of that day.
David Fitzgerald
War Department Library,
Washington, D. C.
204
SOCIETIES
SOCIETIES
Society of the Cincinnati — The
triennial meeting of the General Society
of the Cincinnati was held at Newport,
Rhode Island, on July 27 and 28, at the
invitation of the Rhode Island Society.
About seventy members of this distin-
guished Order were present. The list
of delegates and alternates to the meeting
from the several State Societies contained
many names well known in the history of
the Revolution, among which were the
following : Hamilton Fish, Alexander
Hamilton, Nathanael Greene, James M.
Varnum, William Wayne, John Sullivan,
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Thomas
Pinckney, Thomas Pinckney Lowndes,
John Schuyler, Alexander J. Clinton,
Francis Barber Ogden, Richard Dale,
and Oswald Tilghman.
The following officers were elected :
President- general, Hon. Hamilton Fish,
of New York ; vice-president-general,
Hon. Robert M. McLane of Maryland,
U. S. Minister to France ; secretary-
general,. Judge Advocate Asa Bird Gar-
diner, U. S. A., LL. D., of Rhode Island;
assistant secretary-general, Richard Ir-
vine Manning of South Carolina ; treas-
urer-general, John Schuyler of New
York ; assistant treasurer-general, Dr.
Herman Burgin of New Jersey ; chap-
lains, Rev. Samuel Moore Shute, D. D.,
of New Jersey, Right Reverend Wm.
Stevens Perry fBishop of Iowa) of Rhode
Island, Rev. Charles Cotesworth Pinck-
ney, D. D., of South Carolina.
and Northern Ohio Historical Society,
was held in Cleveland Tuesday morn-
ing, July 19, 1887, at 11 o'clock, in the
office of Hon. C. C. Baldwin, who was
chairman of the meeting. The follow-
ing officers were elected for the ensuing
year : president, Hon. C. C. Baldwin ;
vice-presidents, D. W. Cross, W. P.
Fogg, J. H. Sargent, and Samuel Briggs ;
corresponding and recording secretary,
D. W. Manchester. In view of his past
efficient services as librarian, Mr. D. W.
Manchester was appointed to the posi-
tion, with a vote of thanks for the able
manner in which he has done his work.
A number of important committees were
appointed.
Ohio historical society — A meeting
of the curators of the Western Reserve
American association for the ad-
vancement of science — The officers
elected at the New York meeting for the
ensuing year are : president, J. W. Pow-
ell of Washington, D. C. ; vice-presidents,
Ormond Stone of University of Virginia,
Mathematics and Astronomy ; A. A.
Michelson of Cleveland, Physics ; C. E.
Munroe of Newport, Chemistry ; Calvin
M. Woodward of St. Louis, Geology and
Geography ; C. V. Riley of Washington,
Biology ; C. C. Abbott of Trenton, An-
thropology ; C. W. Smiley of Washing-
ton, Economic Science and Statistics.
The permanent secretary is Profes-
sor F. W. Putnam of Cambridge,
Massachusetts the general secretary,
J. C. Arthur of La Fayette ; secretary
of the council, C.Leo Mees of Athens ;
the treasurer, William Lilly of Mauch
Chunk.
• HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
N. P. Willis once answered a friend who proposed a correspondence, that to ask
him to write a letter after his day's work was like asking a penny postman to take a walk
in the evening for the pleasure of it. In composition the manuscript of Willis was full of
erasures and interlineations. He blotted, on an average, one line out of every three ;
but his copy was so neatly and legibly prepared that the compositors preferred it to " re-
print," even his erasures having "a certain wavy elegance." He was likewise very par-
ticular about having his articles printed just as he wrote them. " My copy must be fol-
lowed," he wrote to an offending foreman ; " if I insert a comma in the middle of a word,
do you place it there and ask no questions."
Mr. Henry Stevens, the bibliographer, purchased, after Mr. Pickering's death, the
greater part of the original manuscripts of Robert Burns, among which were those of
" Auld Lang Syne" and "Scots wha ha wi Wallace bled," two gems which he thought
would be better appreciated in America than even in Scotland. Receiving a letter in
1859, fr°m Chancellor Pruyn, of Albany, asking him to send something startling for the
Burns Centenary Festival, about to take place in that city, he forwarded "Auld Lang
Syne " with all possible haste. The song reached Albany at nine o'clock in the even-
ing of the day of the celebration, and was delivered into the hands of Chancellor Pruyn,
who interrupted the after-dinner speech-making, and, displaying his parcel, requested all
present to rise, join hands, and sing " Auld Lang Syne " from the poet's own handwriting,
just received from London. The effect was sublime.
The "Scots wha ha wi Wallace bled " was written on a single half sheet of quarto
writing paper, and cost Mr. Stevens at auction £■$■$. He subsequently obtained the auto-
graph letter of Burns which had been attached to the poem, and had the two neatly
joined and bound in a limp red morocco cover. He retained this treasure for nearly
twenty years, and then it was finally purchased by Charles Sumner, who bequeathed it to
the library of Harvard College, where it may now be seen.
The celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the framing and adoption of
the Constitution of the United States will take place in Philadelphia on the fifteenth, six-
teenth, and seventeenth clays of the present September. It is expected that the occasion
will give brilliant testimony to the universal attachment of all classes of our people to
that great charter of American liberty to which we owe the unparalleled development of
our American Republic. The first day is assigned for a processional industrial display,
showing national progress within the century. In the evening the governor of Pennsyl-
vania will hold a public reception in honor of the governors of the states and territories
who are expected to be present. The second day will be devoted to a military parade,
and in the evening a reception will be given in honor of the President of the United States.
The third and great day will be given up to the special services of commemoration, pre-
sided over by President Cleveland. Justice Miller, of the Supreme Court, is to deliver the
oration. Various other entertainments are offered by the citizens of Philadelphia during
Vol. XVIII.-No. 3 -18
266 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
the progress of the celebration. Personal invitations have been sent to prominent states-
men, army and navy officers, historians, poets, men of letters, inventors, and to the lead-
ing men in commerce and the industries, to honor the occasion by their presence.
IN a private letter from Mr. Bancroft, dated June 13, 1887, occurs a sentence too
valuable to remain private ; valuable to all lovers of a correct understanding of past
events, and especially to earnest beginners in historical pursuits. Mr. Bancroft says : " I
know of no branch of study more worthy your attention than history, which is but the
record of God's providence." Thus does this emperor of American historians epitomize
the last sum of evidence which, in a long lifetime of splendid achievement he has
accumulated ; thus in one simple sentence does he express the supreme truth concern-
ing the study of history. Until a full conviction of this sentiment is reached, the chief
good of all profound historical research is missed. It is better, however, to start from
than to arrive at this conclusion. Mr. Bancroft started from it, and has thus made his
historical work an exposition of Providence, at the same time that he has made it a supe-
rior chronicle and a superlative narrative. Doubtless, no wrong would be done to the
full intention of Mr. Bancroft's extracted sentence were it made to read, " I know of
no branch of study more worthy of your attention than history, because it is but the record
of God's providence."
AN objection is raised by some far-seeing critics to the length of the title of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, which, however, is abbreviated at
pleasure to A. A. A. S., and need not prove so very unwieldy to the novice in scientific
research. The work of this Association during its eventful existence has, in a certain sense,
created a new world — it has been of unspeakable value to our country. People of culture
have now learned to appreciate scientific principles, and to regard every step of scientific
progress with critical interest. President Barnard, of Columbia College, in his eloquent
address of welcome on the assembling of this distinguished body in the city of New York,
August 10, 1887, said: "This great metropolis opens wide to you her hospitable arms,
and tenders freely to you all that she possesses which can awaken your interest or pro-
mote, during your sojourn with us, your comfort or your convenience. And she has
much to offer which cannot fail to interest you, not only as men of science, but also as
men of letters, which many of you are, or as men of taste, men of general culture, or men
of practical minds. She is prepared to throw open to you without reserve her vast com-
mercial houses, her great manufacturing establishments, her extensive foundries, her in-
stitutions of learning, her libraries, her scientific collections, her museums of art and
natural history, her banks, her exchanges, her temples of justice, her penal and charitable
institutions, her theatres, her churches, her menageries — the one in Central Park, the
other, more interesting, perhaps, in Wall street — everything, in short, that civilization
has created at this its highest point of culmination upon the Western Continent, she sub-
mits to your inspection, your study, and your intelligent appreciation.
On the other hand, her citizens will find in you not only honored and honorable
guests, but subjects of a reciprocal interest and curiosity. The names of many of you are
already and deservedly well known to them, but it can be said of only comparatively few
that your persons and countenances are familiar. It is an entirely legitimate as well as
natural curiosity which leads men to desire to look upon the features of those whose labors
have done honor to our common humanity. Our citizens will, therefore, throng your as-
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS 267
semblies with the feeling which draws men to any point where superiority of whatever
kind, literary, political, or scientific, is the attracting force ; and they will listen to your
words with respectful attention, if they do not always understand them.
The noble object of your organization is expressed in its title — the Advancement of
Science. And during the forty years of your existence as an organized body Science has
certainly made wonderful advances, to which you are entitled to say, with just pride, that
no small proportion has been due to the successful labors of your own members. On be-
half of Columbia College permit me to add that though the National Academy of Sciences
has, on several occasions, honored us by its presence here, this is the first time that it has
been our privilege to receive your more comprehensive and more popular body within our
halls. It is with unfeigned gratification that we offer to you all the resources at our dis-
posal to facilitate your proceedings and to aid you in the prosecution of your objects.
Our scientific collections, which are quite worthy of your attention ; our library, which
you see around you ; our museums, our laboratories, and our lecture-halls are at your
service. If there is anything which we have overlooked by which we may be able further
to contribute to your convenience, you have only to mention it and it shall receive our
prompt attention. In the name of the trustees of Columbia College and of the several
faculties, I extend to you a heartfelt welcome."
Among the two hundred and fifty papers prepared for this meeting of the scientists
some were of a technical character, but the majority read before the sections have been
eminently practical and popular. Take, for instance, Professor Atwater's " Economy of
Food " ; the thought and the argument both appeal to the earnest consideration of every
man and woman in the land, whether rich or poor. He explained the elements of the com-
mon foods that combine to form the structure of the human system, and to supply it with
potential energy. He compared the quantity of the nutrients consumed by Europeans
and Americans, from which it appears that the American consumed considerably above
the standard of necessity, and wasted a great deal more ; while the European rarely
exceeded the standard, and frequently fell below it. He said : "An inexplicable sensitive-
ness exists among American workmen. The best the market affords alone is good enough
for them, and by their constant demand for what they wrongly consider the choice cuts of
meat, they maintain the present high prices. Improper eating, and especially overeating,
is a source of more disease than any other one thing ; the eating habit does more harm to
health than even the drinking habit. The remedy lies in persuading people that economy
is respectable, and in teaching them how to economize.
The rich suffer in health from overeating, while the great body of people, wage-
workers and others in moderate circumstances, suffer in both health and purse, and, what
is the saddest part of the whole story, the poor suffer most of all from neglect of the fun-
damental principles of food economy."
One of the most spirited and interesting papers read before this learned Association
was by Professor James, of the University of Pennsylvania, on " The Testimony of Sta-
tistics to Our National Progress." A part of his time was devoted to an acute criticism
of Professor Atkinson's work on statistics and economy, which he pronounced incomplete,
incorrect in some of its features, and misleading. He said: "If I understand the posi-
tion of the sanguine economists, it is briefly this : As a nation we are increasing our
wealth at an enormous rate ; at such a rate, indeed, that we have every reason to be satis-
26$ HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
Red witn our progress. This wealth has been and is being distributed among the various
factors in production in what is so nearly perfect a system that by the mere force of com-
petition we have every reason to congratulate ourselves on the result. So says Pro-
fessor Atkinson. I dissent most emphatically from these conclusions. I have at least as
thorough a confidence in the future of my country as that which Professor Atkinson dis-
plays, but I base it on the belief that we shall at many points make radical departures
from our present ways of doing things. While, therefore, I shall have in many cases
nothing to urge against the correctness of Mr. Atkinson's figures, it seems to me that even
the figures which he advances do not at all prove the conclusions at which he arrives."
Professor James also read an able paper on " Manual Training in the Public Schools,"
presenting forcible arguments in favor of such training. Four papers were read by naval
and engineering experts on the Nicaragua Canal, of great practical importance to the
world ; the inventor, Edison, contributed to the Section on Physics two papers of conse-
quence, one of which, on Pyromagnetic Dynamo, disclosed a new and economical sys-
tem of producing electricity directly from fuel ; Professor Drummond lectured on his
experiences as an explorer in Central Africa ; and there were many other exceptionally
valuable contributions to scientific knowledge.
It is rumored in private circles that the American Association for the Advancement of
Science will be invited to cross the Atlantic and hold one of its sessions in England — a
point that will probably be settled at the coming meeting of the British Association for
the Advancement of Science. The New York meeting has been in many respects one of
the most notable in the history of the organization. * In the high standard of original
investigation which has characterized this meeting, in the large number of cultured men
and women in attendance, and in the increase of its membership, it has been exception-
ally successful. Aside from its serious and dignified work, social pleasures have been
crowded into the programme whenever there was an hour to spare. On the evening of
the second day of the session the ladies of the Local Committee of New York gave a
brilliant reception at the Metropolitan Opera House, some twelve hundred guests being
present, representing nearly all the states in the Union. On the third afternoon of the
session the entire Association was entertained on an excursion down the Bay by Mr. and
Mrs. J. S. T. Stranahan, of Brooklyn. On Saturday some four hundred were treated to
an excursion to West Point, while another party visited Long Branch; and, among a variety
of other courtesies extended, charming receptions were held on Friday, Monday, and
Tuesday evenings, in the beautiful library of Columbia College, by the Botanists, the
Academy of Sciences, and the Local Committee of New York, in succession.
The graceful and accomplished President of the Association during its session in New
York City, Professor S. P. Langley, is the present acting President of the Smithsonian
Institution, at Washington. He was among the distinguished men of science who were
invited to address the British Association in 1882, and his name appears among the lect-
urers before the Royal Institution of London. He early developed a remarkable interest
in scientific inquiry, and before thirty years of age he was thoroughly equipped in astron-
omy, civil engineering, and architecture. He was in Europe advancing his scientific
learning in 1864 an(J ^65, and on his return to the United States taught astronomy suc-
cessively at Harvard, the Naval Academy at Annapolis, and at Pittsburgh.
BOOK NOTICES
269
BOOK NOTICES
YEAR BOOK OF THE CITY OF
CHARLESTON, South Carolina, 1886.
Mayor Courtenay's Annual Review. 8vo, pp.
441. Walker, Evans & Cogswell Company.
As we turn the leaves of the Year Book for
1886, recently issued by the accomplished mayor
of the city of Charleston, we are struck with
wonder and admiration at the conscientious and
untiring care with which data of the highest con-
sequence to the world has been adjusted between
its covers. The first thought is naturally of the
earthquake of 1886, its causes, effects, and con-
sequences ; and here we find a full and concise
descriptive narrative and study of its disastrous
work, from the gifted pen of Carl McKinley,
with notes of scientific investigations, maps, and
other illustrations. We have also the cable-
grams exchanged between the Queen of England
and the President of the United States with ref-
erence to the calamity that befell Charleston on
that eventful day in its history, August 31, 18S6.
In another part of this magazine will be found an
extract from Mr. McKinley's graphic narrative,
our regret being the want of space sufficient to
republish it all. He tells us that communication
with the outer world was cut off simultaneously
with the first shock, the railways having been
rendered impassable to trains, and the telegraph
lines broken down in the city and for a long dis-
tance without. As soon as it was practicable
to set trains in motion, people left the city in
crowds. " It must not be supposed, however,"
he continues, "that all the citizens were so de-
moralized. The authorities and subordinates
in every department of the local government
remained at their posts, and discharged their
difficult and added duties with a zeal and ability
befitting the. occasion, and that took no note of
personal risk or private interest. Aid and relief
were promptly extended to all who were in need.
There were countless instances of unselfish de-
votion, of kind and loving regard between master
and servant, mistress and maid, that showed, as
could not have been shown under any other cir-
cumstances, how strong is the tie that yet binds
the races together." The volume is character-
ized by the same business-like method of arrange-
ment in regard to subjects as its predecessors.
The losses in every direction through the earth-
quake's effects, and how they were met and over-
come, are clearly and tersely presented. It is
an instructive lesson. An interesting chapter
is devoted to the system and progress of educa-
tion in Charleston. We learn, through the able
report of Henry P. Archer, that the school build-
ings were nearly all demolished by the earth-
quake, and therefore it became impossible to
open more than one of the schools before
the ioth of October. Foremost among those
who were willing to help in arranging for the
opening of the schools were the colored people
of the Morris Brown and Old Bethel churches,
who gave up their buildings, in the genuine spirit
of accommodation, for the use of the pupils.
Mr. Archer says: "I record this fact with no
little pleasure, as it serves to show how popular
education is appreciated by our colored fellow-
citizens in Charleston." There are many views
showing the manner in which the buildings suf-
fered by the earthquake, of great value, in this
issue of the Year Book. The city of Charles-
ton is to be congratulated upon the energy,
taste, and scholarship of its public-spirited mayor
during the past eight years.
BEECHER MEMORIAL. Contemporaneous
Tributes to the Memory of Henry Ward
Beecher. Compiled and Edited by Edward
W. Bok. 8vo, pp. no. Privately printed.
Brooklyn, New York. 1887.
Mr. Beecher' s grand ali-sidedness is well at-
tested by this beautiful memorial volume. It
contains about one hundred tributes from more
or less distinguished men and women in this
country and in Europe, compiled and edited
with much skill by Edward W. Bok, of Brook-
lyn. The gift of true and genuine appreciation
of such a man as the subject of this work is
with few, and although thousands might have
written, with great force and feeling, the selec-
tions on the whole have been judicious. Conspic-
uous among the characteristics of Mr. Beecher,
his patriotism is recognized and emphasized by
nearly every writer. Dr. Holmes says : "What
Mr Beecher did for the country during the war
of the secession, no man can estimate." Ham-
ilton Fish says : " His warm devotion to the
Union, and his active and efficient labors in be-
half of the nation during its struggle for exis-
tence, and his eloquent appeals in behalf of the
freedom of the slave, will ever enshrine his
name in the gratitude and admiration of future
ages."
Mr. Edwards Pierrepont contributes an ap-
propriate introduction to the volume. The
President of the United States says : ' ' More than
thirty years ago I repeatedly enjoyed the op-
portunity of hearing Mr. Beecher in his own
pulpit. His warm utterances, and the earnest
interest he displayed in the practical things re-
lated to useful living, the hopes he inspired, and
the manner in which he relieved the precepts of
Christianity from gloom and cheerlessness, made
me feel that, though a stranger, he was my
friend." Ex- President Rutherford B. Hayes
says : " On the vital questions of his time, at the
critical periods, at the very points where the need
was the sorest and the hazard the greatest, Mr.
z;o
BOOK NOTICES
Beecher's talents were all employed on the side
of his country and humanity, with a devotion and
courage which Americans will always remember
and admire."
NORWAY NIGHTS AND RUSSIAN DAYS.
By S. M. Henry Davis. 16 mo., pp. 325.
New York : Fords, Howard & Hulbert.
Mrs. Davis is already known to our readers
through her " Life and Times of Sir Philip Sid-
ney." This book of travels is in a very different
line of work, but possesses all her vivacious
charm of style and appreciation of the pictur-
esque phases of life that every traveler encoun-
ters in the countries of northern Europe. The
volume is embellished by numerous illustrations
from excellent drawings, including the interest-
ing Viking ship unearthed at Gokstad a few
years ago, and now in the museum at Christiana.
Several pages are given to a description of this
vessel. The " Midnight Sun," that Mecca of
northern pilgrims, comes in for a clever bit of de-
scription, the author having been favored by the
weather, so that she actually saw the luminary in
his world-famous act of staying up all night.
The wild and desolate scenery of the Norwegian
coast as far as the North Cape, the quaint and
simple manners of the people, the unfamiliar
scenery of the sub- Arctic landscape — all lend the
artist-author abundant material for a most charm-
ing and unhackneyed book of travel.
THE MARGIN OF PROFITS. How it is
now divided, etc. By Edward Atkinson.
Octavo, pp. 123. New York : G. P. Put-
nam's Sons.
The name of Mr. Atkinson is conspicuously
associated with some of the most profound and
thoughtful essays upon our modern economics,
and the present addition to the Putnams' valu-
able " Questions of the Day" must add to his
reputation as a student of American tendencies.
In substance the present volume is an address
delivered at one of the Sunday evening meet-
ings of the Central Labor Union of Boston. A
wish had been expressed by one of the represent-
atives of the Union to debate with Mr. Atkin-
son the eight-hour question, and this address was
the result. Mr. E. M. Chamberlain was ap-
pointed to reply to Mr. Atkinson, advance copies
of the address being furnished for his use.
His reply is contained in the present volume.
Mr. Atkinson believes that however misdirected
may be the arbitrary methods of labor associa-
tions as now organized, they are the precursors
of a better and more reasonable regime. In the
very effort to organize these is the germ of prog-
ress, and it only requires a few years of intelli-
gent considerateness to bring about ameliorated
conditions of life for the laboring classes. In
the appendix are many valuable suggestions
bearing upon the economies of life — suggestions
which we fear will not all of them be acceptable
to those for whose benefit they are intended, but
which in intelligent hands might be made largely
to increase the buying power of a workman's
wages.
ANNALS OF AUGUSTA COUNTY, VIR-
GINIA. With reminiscences illustrative of
the vicissitudes of its Pioneer settlers ; Bio-
graphical sketches of prominent citizens ; A
Diary of the war, i86i-5,and a chapter on
reconstruction. By Joseph A. Waddell.
8vo, pp. 374. Richmond, Va., 1886. J. W.
Randolph & English.
Probably no man living in Virginia at the
present time is better fitted for the preparation
of a volume of this character than Mr. Waddell.
Augusta County is an important section of the
state, and nothing could be more welcome to
the historical scholar than an account of the
first settlement by white men west of the Blue
Ridge. The author has a pleasing style of
reciting the difficulties of the pioneer in the
wilderness, and picturing the progress made by
slow degrees in redeeming the county from its
barbaric condition. He describes the perils of
Indian wars, dwells upon the history of indi-
viduals and families of prominence, and illus-
trates in vivid pen sketches the organization and
growth of churches, and the development of
the present social and political institutions.
The closing chapters cover the period of the war
of secession, 1861-1865, and are enriched with
a valuable diary of stirring events. The in-
terest of the book extends far beyond the limits
of its title, the sons of the first settlers having
scattered widely ; many of them are among the
first people of the West and South. Mr. Waddell
has discovered information in a multitude of
original sources, and seems to have taken great
pains to verify his authorities. His work has
been verily a labor of love. We cordially com-
mend it as admirably conceived and excep-
tionally well written ; and in its typographi-
cal dress it is uniform in size, type, and paper
with the publications of the Virginia Historical
Society, and all that can be desired. Price,
$2.50.
RURAL HOURS. By Susan Fenimore
Cooper. i6mo., pp. 337.
The name of Fenimore Cooper must always
carry with it for Americans who have fallen
under the spell of the " Leatherstocking
Tales " a distinct attraction, different from that
commanded by any other. The author of the
BOOK NOTICES
27!
present volume is now almost the only living
representative of her father, the hrilliant novel-
ist of half a century ago. That a new and re-
vised edition of her "Rural Hours " is called
for, must be gratifying to the benevolent lady
who still supports the ancient dignity of the
Coopers on the shores of the very lake where
once Leatherstocking's rifle rang and where
Uncas paddled his birch canoe. The volume em-
bodies in a semi-journalistic form the record of
a life in the country, to which more and more
the wearied eyes of town-tired Americans must
turn as the years go on, and the power of appre-
ciating a rural home becomes more universally
a national characteristic.
tory, and on the organization of the state gov-
ernment was elected the first circuit judge for
the fifth judicial circuit.
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF LYMAN
C. DRAPER and MORTIMER MEL-
VILLE JACKSON. By Reuben G.
Thwaites and Consul Willshire Butter-
field. Square 8vo., pp. 58. Madison,
Wisconsin, 1887.
This little biographical work is timely, and
of more than ordinary interest to historical
scholars. The sketches were originally published
in the Magazine of Western History, and are
now presented in a tasteful volume for perma-
nent preservation. There is truth in what the
author says of Dr Draper : " Probably no histori-
cal student within the basin of the Mississippi is
so generally known among men of letters as
Lyman C. Draper, LL. D., of the Wisconsin
Historical Society. While his reputation thus
far has been chiefly that of a collector and edi-
tor of materials for history, rather than a
writer, his work is quite as famous in its way
as though his contributions to standard literature
had been more numerous." The position of
Dr. Draper has been singularly unique in
American scholarship — he has long been re-
garded as an oracle on Western topics among
specialists and conscientiously devoted to re-
search. He was born in Hamburg, New York,
with a good Puritan ancestry in the back-
ground, and his exceptionally busy and useful
life has borne rich and abundant fruit.
Judge Mortimer Melville Jackson, who in
1880 was appointed consul-general of the
British Maritime Provinces, and served in that
capacity for two years, residing in Halifax, has
had an eventful career, which is pleasantly set
forth by Mr. Butterfield. He was born in
Rensselaerville, N. Y. and at present resides in
Madison, Wisconsin. He took up his resi-
dence in Milwaukee in 1838, when the recently
organized territory of Wisconsin was attracting
universal attention. He wrote a series of ar-
ticles descriptive of the country, was a leading
politician, and a most effective public speaker ;
in 1842 became attorney-general of the terri-
SELECT POEMS. By Algernon Charles
Swinburne. 12 mo., pp. 230. New York :
Worthington & Co.
Swinburne's poetry and passion are too well
known to readers of English literature to call
for comment or criticism in these pages. The
selections embrace some two score of the most
characteristic work that he has produced, such as
"On the Verge," " By the North Sea," " The
Caves of Sark," etc. To make such a selection
from the works of an author whose genius is so
many-sided and prolific requires a nice dis-
crimination and a cultured poetic taste. As a
whole, the present volume is representative, and
deserves a welcome from all lovers of the modern
school of English poetry.
ZURY : THE MEANEST MAN IN SPRING
COUNTY. A Novel of Western Life. By
Joseph Kirkland. 16 mo., pp. 535.
Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
Seldom has the hardship of frontier life been
more ably set forth than in the opening pages of
this novel. The last day's run of a prairie
schooner's voyage to the westward with its
freight of emigrants is painted in all the
wretchedness of its surroundings, and then fol-
lows the heart-breaking toil of " settling" and
starting a farm. The story is told, however, in
an entertaining style, with frequent dashes of
humor that render it most absorbing reading.
Zury is the boy of the family, who develops a
strong and enterprising character, and glories in
his nickname, inasmuch as he regards it as a
certificate of his business abilities. Into the
rude border community comes a Boston girl,
who makes it pleasant and unpleasant alike for
herself and for a large part of the strait-laced
community. We cannot forbear quoting a por-
tion of a good woman's creed which she enun-
ciates for Anne's benefit. She is telling how
Zury was suspected of Universalist tendencies,
because some one had seen a bundle of Univer-
salist papers in his barn. Anne sees no harm
in Universalism :
" I guess you dunno what a Universalist is!
(Then with a horrified whisper): " It's a person
that believes 't all mankind will be saved. (A
pause to note the effect of this frightful thought.)
'Course no true Christian can believe no sech
doctrine's that. Why, if I b'lieved I shouldn't
be punished hereafter, I'd jest go out an' be jest
as wicked as ever I could be."
" What did Mr. Prouder (Zury) do ? "
" Oh, he jest up an' proved it was all a mail-
2y2
BOOK NOTICES
cious lie gotten up to hurt him. He moved a
committee be app'inted that very meetin' to
come up ami sarch the barn next day. Wal,
they 'mended it so that the committee went right
up same night, an' sure enough they found a
batch o' papers. An' then Zury showed how
he'd bought a new fannin' mill, an' the fans was
packed in old papers, an' he never knowed
what was printed onto 'em. An' they reported
to the Conference, an' the Conference they held a
secret meetin', an' had a pretty lively time, but
they voted by a majority to clear Zury an' cen-
sure the fannin' mill company : an' that the
brethren wouldn't buy no more fannin' mills o'
that make without they would clear themselves
o' the charge ; an' the company they come out
in all the papers in advertisements saying that if
it ever did happen it was an accident an'
shouldn't happen again. An' they advertised
for old orthodox papers to be furnished 'em for
packin' purposes, an' so many was sent 'em they
had to hire a barn to store 'em in, an' it was
the best thing for 'em ever happened in their
business."
THE RECORD OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES,
AND DEATHS, and intentions of marriage
in the TOWN of Dedham. Volumes I.
and II. With an appendix containing re-
cords of marriages before 1800, returned from
other 'towns, under the statute of 1857.
1635-1S45. Edited by Don Gleason Hill.
8vo, pp. 286. Dedham, Massachusetts. 1886.
The period covered by this volume is one of
special interest and importance, particularly the
years beginning with 1635 to the commencement
of the present century. Genealogists will in all
the future owe Mr. Don Gleason Hill a vast debt
of gratitude for the clearness and painstaking ac-
curacy with which he has performed this labori-
ous task. Mr. Hill is an active and enthusiastic
member of the New England Historic and Gene-
alogical Society ; and he is also the town clerk
of Dedham, one of the oldest towns in Massa-
chusetts. He has had every facility for the study
of the subject and for the close comparison of
his copies with the originals, which were, when
he took hold of them, at best, in a precarious con-
dition, through worn edges and lost or loose and
misplaced leaves. The work gives evidence on
every page of careful and conscientious editing,
upon which the value and success of such a volume
largely depends. The introduction by the author
gives valuable information as to the old methods
of computing time. Since 1843 the births, mar-
riages and deaths recorded in Dedham have been
regularly returned to the state authorities and can
be found at the State House. Dedham is one
of those ancient towns from which numerous set-
tlers went forth in the early days to establish
homes in other places, often in the untrodden
wilderness, and their descendants will find this
one of the most important publications of its
kind; and it will be of constant use hereafter to
genealogical investigators. The appendix con-
tains records of marriages solemnized before
1800, and returned from other towns, under the
law of 1857. The whole record covers the pe-
riod from 1635, the date of the plantation of the
town, to 1845. The volume is printed in hand-
some, open-faced type, on heavy paper, and is
very substantially bound in cloth. Price, $2.25.
"THE NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS"
(Loyalists) IN THE REVOLUTIONARY
WAR. By William S. Stryker, Adjutant-
General of New Jersey. 8vo, pamphlet, pp.
67. Printed for private distribution. 1887.
Trenton, New Jersey.
This little brochure contains many interesting
facts in reference to the loyalists of New Jer-
sey in the military service of Great Britain dur-
ing the Revolutionary War. It has been com-
piled from various authentic sources with great
care, the spelling of the names corrected, and
short biographical sketches given. Of Robert
Drummond the author says: "Few men did
more to make General Skinner's brigade a nu-
merical success than Robert Drummond. He
spent most of the fall of 1776 recruiting for the
Volunteers. He was in service during the whole
war. A portrait of him is still extant, taken in
London in 1784, which represents him in the
uniform of a British officer, scarlet coat, blue
facings, and buff vest." We find here also
mention made of the reward of 2000 guineas, in
the year 1779, by General Skinner, "for the
capture of Governor Livingston of New Jersey,
dead or alive. This excited the cupidity and
the reckless zeal of many of the New Jersey
loyalists. A very spicy correspondence ensued
in March and April, 1779, between the governor
and Sir Henry Clinton in reference to this
attempted exploit."
ANNOUNCEMENT— The Rev. Philip Schaff,
D.D., will contribute an interesting article to
this Magazine for October, on the "American
Relationship of Church and State." Among
other eminent writers who have prepared
papers for the same number are James Schou-
ler, the historian ; Hon. S. G. W. Benjamin,
and Col. Charles C. Jones, Jr , LL.D., author
of the " History of Georgia."
DANIEL WEBSTER.
[Prom the original painting in possession of the Long- Island Historical Society, .]
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII OCTOBER, 1887 No. 4
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
GLIMPSE OF THE FAMOUS DUTCH WEST INDIA COMPANY
WE are too apt to regard the discovery of the beautiful and pic-
turesque island of Manhattan as the great starting point in the
history of the metropolis of the western world. In point of fact, it was
only one of the early mile-stones. For thirty or more years prior to that
interesting event — an epoch as troubled and fertile as any in human his-
tory—the forces were actively at work in another part of the world which
were to result in the marvelous city of to-day (1887). with its boundless
wealth, and its affairs of interest and influence affecting the whole con-
tinent.
It has been sagely remarked that the value of events are not seen at the
time they take place. They can only be estimated in the light of their con-
sequences. The future was a sealed volume to the Europeans of three
centuries ago. Could the outcome of their work have been foreshadowed,
they would have been incredulous, indeed. The two great European wars
which successively established the independence of Holland and the dis-
integration of Germany, were really but one — a long, mournful tragedy of
eighty years' duration. In connection with its tragic scenes of carriage and
bloodshed, originated two Dutch commercial corporations of extraordinary
magnitude. When, in 1580, Philip II. united Portugal to Spain, and pres-
ently began his war upon England, all Spanish and Portuguese ports were
closed against English vessels. Therefore England was forced to buy her
silks, spices, and other India produce of the Dutch. The revolt of the
Netherlands following swiftly, Dutch vessels were excluded from Lisbon,
then the great source of supplies from the Orient. It was a severe shock
to Dutch industry, for that people had begun already to reap large profits
from English trade. Prices had gone up on India goods — on pepper, for
instance — two hundred per cent. The emancipation of the seven Dutch
provinces from the grasp of Spain had resulted in a sort of irregular
democracy. The province of Holland, being richer and more powerful
than all its six sister provinces combined, imposed a genuine supremacy
Vol. XVIIL— No. 4.— i9
2 74
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK 275
over the whole that was practically conceded. The Union of Utrecht,
established in 1579, was really the foundation of the commonwealth.
But Dutch opulence was of little account without a revenue ; and
Dutch genius and public spirit, outwitting Spain, conceived the bold proj-
ect of opening an ocean avenue of its own to China and the East Indies.
Thus the East India Company was founded, and its vessels followed in the
track of the Portuguese around Africa. Its directors were for the most
part noblemen of the old school. The name and interests of Holland's
great advocate, John of Barneveld, were identified with it, and his admin-
istrative sagacity was one of the principal elements in its marvelous suc-
cess. Within the first twenty years of its existence it divided upwards of
four times its original capital among its shareholders, and accumulated
immense possessions in colonies and vessels. It absolutely founded an
empire in the East. In a stately mansion at home, a dozen private gen-
tlemen, in the gorgeous costume of the period, gathered around a little
table in a charming Dutch parlor controlled fifty or more ships of war on
the ocean, and numerous fortresses in far-away lands that were guarded by
not less than four thousand pieces of artillery and ten thousand soldiers
and sailors. The profits of each trading voyage were enormous, and the
shareholders grew rich beyond their wildest imaginings. It was in the
employ of this wonderful company that Henry Hudson stumbled upon
Manhattan Island. America, however, was not its objective point, and
unless there was a passage to be found through it to the treasure of the
East, the corporation would not give it a thought. The East India
Company made no effort to possess the new country or profit by its pos-
sibilities.
But the turmoil from which the East India Company had been evolved
was to bear further fruit of importance to the world. When the Spaniards
ruined the ancient trade and prosperity of Belgium, more than a hundred
Protestant families the very pith of that nation, fled to Holland. They
breathed into the atmosphere a new element of commercial strength, and
at the same time they were shrewdly^at work devising a method by which
Belgium might be delivered from the Spanish yoke. These people were
opposed to peace with Spain under any circumstances. They knew, too,
just how the wide possessions of Spain were open to the resolute at-
tacks of a vigorous foe; and they studied out and pushed into notice a
scheme for the organization of a warlike company of private adventurers,
who should conquer and ruin the Spanish settlements, seize the Spanish
transports, and cut off all communication with her South American depend-
encies— to be called the West India Company.
276 THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
Maurice, Prince of Orange, favored the scheme. He craved more
power. He felt grievously wronged at not being seated on the throne of
Holland. When his father died he had been considered too young to
occupy the place made vacant. The Netherlands drifted into a republic
because no king, foreign or native, was available. During the war Mau-
rice had been the central figure in modern Europe, the successful com-
mander of armies, and a renowned military scientist. That he should have
aspired to sovereignty, and hated the man who stood in his way, under
the peculiar circumstances of his birth and training, is by no means remark-
able. Thwarted in his ambitious notions, the limited authority vouch-
safed him soured his temper. He found himself not a king, not the leader
of a nominal republic even, but the servant of the States-General, and the
statholder of only five out of seven separate provinces. He was extremely
popular among the lower classes, who worshiped him as a brilliant mili-
tary leader, and were at enmity with Barneveld for his aristocratic procliv-
ities. The subject of the West India Company was seriously considered,
and violently opposed by all who were directly or indirectly interested in
the East India Company. The partisans of Maurice sustained the new
scheme fearlessly, nevertheless, and influential men from the other Dutch
provinces gave it the benefit of their sympathy and support. Its actual
existence dates from 1606; that is, commissioners from the assembly were
appointed in that year, and discussions were frequent in regard to it. But
Barneveld, who was virtually the States-General, made this concession for
the purpose of using it as a threat for the intimidation of Spain in the
peace he was just then trying to secure. He never for a moment intended
to confirm the corporation. The bitterness of the two parties for and
against the proposed West India Company — who were also divided on
almost every question of public interest — culminated as the details of the
peace negotiations became known. Holland was in imminent danger of
civil war. After a memorable struggle Barneveld carried his point trium-
phantly, and humble Spain, in the spring of 1609, signed the truce for
twelve years. Of course, no warlike company could be formed with the
sanction of the Dutch government during that period. But the spirit of
war was not subdued, and the outlook for peace was hardly less stormy
than that of the conflict just suspended. The outward shape of the strife
henceforward was religious. Theological disputes had arisen from the
ruins of popular delusion, even among the Protestants themselves. Armin-
ius, appointed to the professorship of theology at the University of Ley-
den, had undertaken the difficult task of justifying before the tribunal of
human reason the doctrine of the condemnation of sinners predestined to
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK 277
evil. He publicly taught also that the ministers of the Church ought to be
dependent on the civil authority. The municipalities caught at the clev-
erly thrown bait, and attempted to free themselves from the pretensions
of the established clergy. Gomarus, a celebrated scholar and a religious
fanatic, also a professor at Leyden, denounced the terrible heresy, and
defended the doctrines of the established Protestant Church, and its prin-
ciples of ecclesiastical polity. Religion became so curiously mixed with
politics as to offer problems of the most puzzling character. The question
of church property was embarrassing in the extreme, and at that time the
separation of church and state seemed impossible. To those who saw the
intrigues and entanglements, and the religious dogmas which furnished so
much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambition
could be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce was
necessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies.
Maurice was no theologian, although he attended church regularly. He
said he " knew nothing about predestination, whether it was green or
whether it was blue ; " he only knew that "his pipe and the Advocate's
were not likely to make music together." And the discord waxed more and
more fierce as time rolled on. Plainly there was no room in the common-
wealth for the two strong men — the Advocate and the Statholder. Arro-
gant, honest, courageous and austere, Barneveld still firmly opposed the
West India Company as likely to bring on prematurely and unwisely
a renewed conflict with Spain. But the shafts of malice were finally
turned against him squarely in the contest, and he was charged with being
a traitor bought with Spanish gold. This monstrous charge was repeated
by Maurice in haughty anger. Poisonous pamphlets appeared day after
day, until there was hardly a crime in the calendar that was not laid at his
door. The Belgians were determined to get rid of him, believing that he
was the only formidable obstacle in the way of the formation of the West
India Company. Maurice had other reasons. Internal disturbances helped
forward the crisis. The religious disputes became more heated and
envenomed, and serious riots alarmed the country.
" I will grind the Advocate and all his party into fine meal," said the
Prince on one occasion.
A clever caricature of the time represented a pair of scales hung up in
a great hall. In the one was a heap of parchments, gold chains, and mag-
isterial robes ; the whole bundle was marked the holy right of each city.
In the other scale lay a big, square, solid, iron-clasped volume, marked hi-
stitutes of Calvin. Each scale was respectively watched by Arminius and
Gomarus. The judges, gowned, furred, and ruffed, were looking deco-
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK 279
rously on, v/hen suddenly Maurice, in full military attire, was seen rushing
into the apartment and flinging his sword into the scale with the Institutes.
The civic and legal trumpery was of course made to kick the beam.
The patriotic Advocate was finally arrested by order of Maurice, and im-
prisoned. " You have taken from us our head, our tongue, and our hand,"
said Matenesse, in the States of Holland. But the States-General took
the part of Maurice, and looked up all the accusations to the discredit of
the Advocate on which to form something like a bill of indictment. The
shower of pamphlets began afresh, filled with scandalous statements and
dark allusions to horrible discoveries and promised revelations. The clergy
upheld Maurice, because having been excluded from political office they
were in active opposition to the civil authorities. They introduced into
their sermons the strange story that Spain had bribed Barneveld to sign the
truce and kill the West India Company ; and also that the Advocate had
plotted to sell the whole country and drive the Prince of Orange into exile.
The nobles who dared to defend Barneveld, the States, and the municipal
governments, were each in turn accused of being stipendiaries of Spain.
Maurice meanwhile wTas vigorously at work, and the Synod of Dordtrecht
was secured. It met, and it made short work of the Arminians. The de-
crees of this religious council bore directly upon the fate of the great ad-
vocate, who after seven months' incarceration, was brought to trial before
the session closed. He was not permitted the aid of a lawyer, clerk, or
man of business, or the use of his books, papers, pen, ink, or writing ma-
terials. He had faith in the law, and made his defence with indignant elo-
quence, but it availed him nothing. Four days after the termination of
the Synod he was sentenced to die.
On an artificial island in the centre of the beautiful Dutch city known
as the Hague — a name derived from the " Haeg" or hedge surrounding the
ancient park of the counts of Holland — stands, encircling three sides of a
spacious quadrangle, known as the Binnenhof or Inner Court, a number of
quaint old castellated buildings, of various eras, the remains of the ancient
palace of the feudal princes. Directly opposite the residence of Maurice
was a lofty and venerable Gothic Hall, the rival of Westminster, in which
were held the stately meetings of the States-General. In front of its lower
window — its gothic archway converted into a door — a platform was built,
and on the morning of the 13th of May, 18 19, the majestic Advocate, John
of Barneveld, was led to this scaffold and beheaded.
His principal adherents were imprisoned for life. Hugh Grotius, an
illustrious Dutch jurist and author, who was a powerful opponent to the
prospective West India Company, was tried and sent to the Castle of Loev-
2 SO
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
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THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK 28 1
enstein, where he was closely guarded. After a while his wife was per-
mitted to share his fate. In her society, and in close study, he passed two
years, during which time he wrote some important works. His wife had
been for some time in the habit of receiving books for his use in a large
cumbersome chest ; and, finding that the guard had grown slightly careless
in its examination, she ingeniously managed one morning to have Grotius
carried out in it. He disguised himself as a mason, and with trowel and
rule made his escape to Antwerp.
Immediately after the execution of Barneveld a subscription list was
started for the West India Company. The leader in this movement was
William Usselincx, a Belgian merchant of noble descent, wrhose ready pen
had been keeping the political life of Holland in one perpetual ferment for
years. He made little headway with the new company during the first
twelve months, for the States-General, however much they were under the
influence of Maurice, were unwilling that a foreign element should create
to itself so mighty an arm. They had no sympathy with its grand purpose
to combat and worry Spain and gather recompense from the spoils. They
were heartily tired of war in any event. But the English unwittingly
turned the scale. They meddled with Dutch affairs by instructing their
minister at the Hague to remonstrate with the States-General concerning
the impropriety of allowing Dutch vessels to visit Manhattan Island and
vicinity for purposes of traffic. An animated correspondence followed,
each government trying to justify its own acts and establish its own rights.
No definite results were reached save that the Dutch statesmen were sharp-
sighted enough to discover that the only power by which they could possi-
bly hold New York (then called New Netherland) was absolute possession.
A new constitution was drafted for the West India Company, and a clause
was deftly inserted by which the corporation would be obligated to people
the so-called Dutch territory in America. Maurice lent the project his de-
termined support, and it was suddenly regarded with interest by some of
its hitherto most violent enemies. Within a few weeks large sums of
money had been subscribed, and it had received direct encouragement from
the Dutch government. Presently it became an accomplished fact.
It was fashioned after the East India Company. It was guaranteed the
same privileges concerning the trade of the American and African shores
of the Atlantic, that the East India Company had been in their right to
send ships to Asia to the exclusion of other inhabitants of the Dutch
provinces. It was divided, like the East India Company, into five cham-
bers or boards — located in the five cities, Amsterdam, North Holland, the
Meuse, Zealand, and Friesland. Each chamber was a separate organiza-
2.SJ THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
tion, with members, directors and vessels of its own. The capital was
$2,500,000. The general affairs of the company were conducted by nine-
teen representative directors, styled the " College of the Nineteen." The
democratic principles of the Belgians were adopted and shareholders ac-
corded a voice in all important proceedings, which was a constant reproach
to the East India Company and created no little jealousy and mischief.
Probably no private corporation was ever invested with such enormous
powers. It was almost a distinct and separate government. Its fleets
frequently numbered as many as seventy armed vessels each. It might
make contracts and alliances with the princes and natives comprehended
within the limits of its charter ; it might build forts; it might appoint and
discharge governors, soldiers, and public officers ; and it might administer
justice. Its admirals on distant seas were empowered to act independ-
ently of the administration. It was expected to inform the Dutch gov-
ernment from time to time as to the progress it was making in American
conquests and settlements, and to apply to the States-General for all high
commissions. But these were matters of form chiefly. It really shoul-
dered one of the greatest of public burdens, independent of the gov-
ernment— and without properly appreciating its magnitude — naval war
against a powerful enemy. It was endowed with the vast and valuable
lands in America by the States-General, but its right to them was not
legally established, and endless trouble naturally followed. The East
India Company bitterly opposed its great rival, and created at one time a
panic in regard to the character and credit of the new corporation. But
these difficulties were adjusted after a little time.
It started out boldly. Within a month after its incorporation armed
expeditions were on their way to the West Indies and to Brazil. It met
with many brilliant successes. Spanish prizes were captured of such value
that during the first few years the shareholders received from twenty-five
to seventy-five per cent, on their investments. It seemed as if it was
destined to outshine the East India Company in material prosperity.
It bestowed upon the little germ of New York the first years only just
enough attention to satisfy the States-General that it would ultimately be
settled according to contract. In 1625 it lost one of its most zealous and
important champions — Prince Maurice, commander-in-chief of the national
army, who in that year died at the Hague. About the same time the
death of James I. of England, and the accession of Charles I. to the
throne, resulted in a treaty of alliance, offensive and defensive, between
the English and the Dutch, each nation agreeing to furnish fleets for the
purpose of destroying the Spanish commerce in the East Indies. It be-
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
283
WEST INDIA COMPANY'S HOUSE BUILT IN 164I.— VIEW FROM THE OUDE SCHAUS. CITY OF AMSTERDAM.
[Frcm an old print .]
came now apparent to the West India Company that it could take meas-
ures for settling New York without English interference, and it proceeded
to plant a little colony — -that was not self-supporting — and to establish a
system of government that was as contrary to modern ideas of republican-
ism as an absolute monarchy could have been. The West India Company
was never a success in developing plantations. The spoils of war were
more to its taste ; the small trade in furs at Manhattan Island looked
meagre indeed in comparison with the capture of gold by the ship-load.
One hundred and four prizes were recorded between 1626 and 1628. In-
fatuating wealth poured into the company's treasury. Its dividends
doubled and trebled. It invested in costly buildings, and its directors
lived in elegant and luxurious homes.
-.s 4
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK 285
But something must be done with that mismanaged and unprofitable
property at the mouth of the Hudson and inland. Some extraordinary in-
ducement must be offered before people, who, like the Hollanders were
content in their own homes, would voluntarily cross the ocean to dwell in
a wilderness among savages and wild beasts. Neither did Holland farmers,
as a rule, possess the means needful for emigration. If private capitalists
could only be interested so far as to initiate beginnings it was thought the
difficulties would be in a measure overcome. Finally, after much study
and discussion, a charter of Freedoms and Exemptions was invented, which
was expected to stimulate systematic and extended colonization ; real estate
in Holland outside the towns was in possession of old families of the
nobility who were unwilling to part with any portion of it, and there were
unquestionably many who might desire to become extensive landholders
elsewhere. The charter received the sanction of the States-General in 1629.
It was printed in pamphlet form, and circulated through all the towns and
cities in the Netherlands. It promised to confer the title of patroon upon
whoever should found a colony of fifty adults in the new province, one of
the conditions being that he should purchase of the Indians a tract of land
not far from sixteen miles square, and settle his people upon it provided
with all the necessaries of husbandry. He was to be invested with full
property rights and granted freedom in trade — except the fur trade, which
the West India Company reserved to itself — and protection " against all
outlandish and inlandish wars and powers." The corporation reserved for
its private use, as the emporium of trade, the island site of our metropolis,
upon which a fort was to be kept in order and garrisoned. Each patroon
was to support a minister and schoolmaster, and would be supplied with
negro slaves.
Such were the chief features of the West India Company's famous effort
for the agricultural colonization of its American province. In every in-
stance (by a clause in the instrument) the great feudal chieftain must be a
shareholder in the corporation. And the colonists under him were natu-
rally subjected to the double pressure of feudal exaction and mercantile
monopoly. The spirit of the charter was defaced by its details. The ma-
chinery was unwieldy and couid never be made to run smoothly. Some of
the directors were on the alert, and secured the most valuable localities in
New York for themselves as soon as the bill became a law. Their alacrity
filled their less active associates with deadly anger. A quarrel followed
among the directors in Holland that has had few parallels in bitterness or
length in the history of such corporations. But while the wrangling went
on, shiploads of colonists reached our shores. To secure the confirmation
28
THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
to -5
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THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
IS
287
288 THE ORIGIN OF NEW YORK
of patroonships from the College of Nineteen, the patroons were obliged,
in 1631, to receive other members of the company into copartnership ; but
this did not end the turmoil. The patroons meddled with the fur traffic,
and could not easily be controlled. The company tried to modify its feu-
dal system and was plunged into fresh embarrassments. It aimed to govern
its troublesome territory wisely, but failed through the inexperience and
incompetence of its early officers. Destructive Indian wars prevailed, and
unlucky disputes arose with the English, and afterward with the Swedes.
The relations of the New York colonists with their colonial neighbors grew
more and more unsatisfactory, and the company lacked the power necessary
to set matters right. A terrible conflict among the strong men who repre-
sented the citizenship of the little town on Manhattan Island was equally un-
manageable. The corporation in despair appealed to the States-General in
1638 for counsel. But when the statesmanship of the Hague recommended
that the New York province should be made a government colony of the
Netherlands, the directors promptly refused to surrender it. Having worked
at the problem fifteen years, they were determined to persevere until it was
self-supporting. They were obliged to adopt, however, a more liberal sys-
tem of colonization, which was a step in advance, but new troubles arose.
With all its blemishes, the charter which caused so much heartburning
and private Dutch eloquence had many redeeming qualities. It was really
the best thing the West India Company ever did for New York, as it sent
into the province men of marked individuality and original conceptions,
and set many forces in motion that otherwise would have been a long time
in reaching the surface. The cardinal error of the much-criticised company
was in seeking to people its dominions with its own dependents to the ex-
clusion of its well-to-do countrymen. But in the end all classes emigrated ;
and as time rolled on those who took the most active part in the direction
of our infant institutions were, in intelligence and worldly wisdom, above
the average of their generation. In spite of all its withering influences,
the close corporation laid the broad foundations of a mighty state. Its
policy reacted upon itself, to its own ruin ; but the work it had done for
New York could not be undone. It imported with its patroons and col-
onists the magnanimous sentiments of religious toleration, the most lib-
eral doctrines in regard to trade and commerce, the idea of the confed-
eration of sovereign states, and the undying principles of self-government,
together with that magnificent hospitality which has made the hearthstone
the test of citizenship, welcoming all nationalities to our shores.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
OR
THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHURCH AND STATE IN THE UNITED STATES
Part I
What is the distinctive character of American Christianity in its organ-
ized social aspect and its relation to the national life, as compared with the
Christianity of Europe ?
It is a FREE CHURCH IN A FREE STATE, or a SELF-SUPPORTING AND
SELF-GOVERNING CHRISTIANITY IN INDEPENDENT BUT FRIENDLY RELA-
TION TO THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT.
This relationship of church and state is a new chapter in the history
of Christianity, and the most important one which America has so far
contributed. It lies at the base of our religious institutions and opera-
tions, and they cannot be understood without it. And yet it has never
received the treatment it deserves, either from the historical or the phil-
osophical point of view. It seems to be regarded as a self-evident fact
and truth which need no explanation and defense. I know of no ecclesi-
astical or secular history, or special treatise, which gives a full and satis-
factory account of it ; and the works on the Constitution of the United
States touch only on the legal aspects of the religious clauses, or pass
them over altogether.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
The relationship of church and state in the United States secures full
liberty of religious thought, speech, and action, within the limits of the
public peace and order. It makes persecution impossible.
Religion and liberty are inseparable. Religion is voluntary, and cannot,
and ought not to be, forced.
This is a fundamental article of the American creed, without distinc-
tion of sect or party. Liberty, both civil and religious, is an American
instinct. All natives suck it in with the mother's milk ; all immigrants ac-
cept it as a happy boon, especially those who flee from oppression and
persecution abroad. Even those who reject the modern theory of liberty
enjoy the practice, and would defend it in their own interest against any
attack to overthrow it.
Such liberty is impossible on the basis of a union of church and state,
where the one of necessity restricts or controls the other. It requires a
Vol. XVIII.— No. 4<— 20
29O THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
friendly separation, where each power is entirely independent in its own
sphere. The church, as such, has nothing to do with the state except to
obey its laws and to strengthen its moral foundations; the state has noth-
ing to do with the church except to protect it in its property and liberty;
and the state must be equally just to all forms of belief and unbelief within
the limits of public order and safety.
The root of this system we find in the New Testament, which acknowl-
edges the family, the church, and the state as divine institutions demand-
ing alike our obedience, yet clearly distinguishes them in their aim and
sphere of jurisdiction. The family is the oldest institution, and the source
of church and state. The patriarchs were priests and kings of their house-
holds. Church and state are equally necessary, and as inseparable as soul
and body, and yet as distinct as soul and body. The church is instituted
for the religious interests and eternal welfare of man ; the state, for his sec-
ular interests and temporal welfare. The one looks to heaven as the final
home of immortal spirits; the other upon our mother earth. The church
is the reign of love ; the state is the reign of justice. The former is gov-
erned by the gospel, the latter by the law. The church exhorts and uses
moral suasion ; the state commands and enforces obedience. The church
punishes by rebuke, suspension, and excommunication ; the state by fines,
imprisonments, and death. Both meet on questions of public morals, and
both together constitute civilized human society. Christ directs us to
render unto God the things that are God's, and unto Caesar the things
that are Caesar's (Matt. xxii. 21). He paid the tribute money and obeyed
the laws of Rome, but he refused to be a judge and divider of the inher-
itance of two brothers, as lying outside of the sphere of religion (Luke
xii. 14). He declared before Pilate that his kingdom is not of this world
(John xviii. 36), and rebuked Peter for drawing the sword, even in defense
of his Master (John xviii. 11). When the Evil One tempted him with the
possession of all the kingdoms of this world, he said unto him : " Get thee
hence, Satan " (Matt. iv. 10). Secular power has proved a satanic gift to
the church, and ecclesiastical power has proved an engine of tyranny in
the hands of the state. The apostles used only the spiritual weapons of
truth and love in spreading the gospel of salvation. If men had always
acted on this principle and example, history would have been spared the
horrors of persecution and religious wars.
THE AMERICAN SYSTEM COMPARED WITH OTHER SYSTEMS
The American relationship of church and state differs from all previous
relationships in Europe and in the Colonies, and yet it rests upon them
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 29I
and reaps the benefit of them all. For history is an organic unit, and
American history has its roots in Europe.
1. The American system differs from the ante-Nicene or pre-Constan-
tinian separation of church and state, when the church was indeed, as with
us, self-supporting and self-governing, and so far free within, but under per-
secution from without, being treated as a forbidden religion by the then
heathen state. In America the government protects the church in her
property and rights without interfering with her internal affairs. By the
power of truth and the moral heroism of martyrdom the church converted
the Roman Empire and became the mother of Christian states.
2. The American system differs from the hierarchical control of the
church over the state, or from priest-government, which prevailed in the
Middle Ages down to the Reformation, and reached its culmination in the
Papacy. It confines the church to her proper spiritual vocation and leaves
the state independent in all the temporal affairs of the nation. The hie-
rarchical theory was suited to those times, after the fall of the Roman Em-
pire and the ancient civilization, when the Christian priesthood was in sole
possession of learning and had to civilize as well as to evangelize the bar-
barians of northern and western Europe. By her influence over legisla-
tion the church abolished bad laws and customs, introduced benevolent in-
stitutions, and created a Christian state controlled by the spirit of justice
and humanity.
3. The American system differs from the Erastian or Caesaro-Papal
control of the state over the church, which obtained in the old Byzantine
Empire, and prevails in modern Russia, and in the Protestant States of
Europe, where the civil government protects and supports the church,
but at the expense of her dignity and independence, and deprives her of
the power of self-government. In America, the state has no right whatever
to interfere with the affairs of the church, her doctrine, discipline or wor-
ship, and the appointment of ministers.
4. The American system differs from the system of toleration which
began in Germany with the Westphalia Treaty, 1648 ; in England with the
Act of Toleration, 1689, and which now prevails nearly all over Europe ; of
late years, nominally at least, even in Roman Catholic countries, to the
very gates of the Vatican. Toleration exists where the government sup-
ports one or more churches, and tolerates other religious communities under
the name of sects (on the Continent) or dissenters and nonconformists (as
in England). In America there are no such distinctions, but only churches
or denominations on a footing of perfect equality before the law. To talk
about any particular denomination as the church, or the American church.
292 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
has no meaning, and betrays ignorance or conceit. Such exclusiveness is
natural and logical in Romanism, but unnatural, illogical, and contemptible
in any other church. Toleration is an important step from state-churchism
to free-churchism. But it is only a step. There is a great difference be-
tween toleration and liberty. Toleration is a concession, which may be
withdrawn ; it implies a preference for the ruling form of faith and worship,
and a practical disapproval of all other forms. It may be coupled with
many restrictions and disabilities. We tolerate what we dislike, but can-
not alter; we tolerate even a nuisance if we must. Acts of toleration are
wrung from a government by the force of circumstances and the power of
a minority too influential to be disregarded. In this way even the most
despotic governments, as those of Turkey and of Russia, are tolerant ; the
one toward Christians and Jews, the other toward Mohammedans and dis-
senters from the orthodox Greek Church ; but both deny the right of propa-
gandism and missionary operations except in favor of the state religion, and
both forbid and punish apostasy from it.
In our country we ask no toleration for religion and its free exercise, but
we claim it as an inalienable right. " It is not toleration," says Judge
Cooley, " which is established in our system, but religious equality." Free-
dom of religion is one of the greatest gifts of God to man, without distinc-
tion of race and color. He is the author and lord of conscience, and no
power on earth has a right to stand between God and the conscience. A
violation of this divine law written in the heart is an assault upon the
majesty of God and the image of God in man. Granting the freedom of
conscience, we must, by logical necessity, also grant the freedom of its mani-
festation and exercise in public worship. To concede the first and to deny
the second, after the manner of despotic governments, is to imprison the
conscience. To be just, the state must either support all or none of the re-
ligions of its citizens. Our government supports none, but protects all.
5. Finally — and this we would emphasize as especially important in our
time — the American system differs radically and fundamentally from the
infidel and red-republican theory of religious freedom, which is advocated
chiefly by foreign immigrants who left their country for their country's
good. The word freedom is one of the most abused words in the vocabu-
lary. True liberty is a positive force, regulated by law ; false liberty is a
negative force, a release from restraint. True liberty is the moral power of
self-government; the liberty of infidels and anarchists is carnal licentious-
ness. The American separation of church and state rests on respect for
the church ; the infidel separation, on indifference and hatred of the church,
and of religion itself. The infidel theory was tried and failed in the first
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 293
Revolution of France. It began with toleration, and ended with the aboli-
tion of Christianity, and with the reign of terror, which in turn prepared the
way for military despotism as the only means of saving society from anarchy
and ruin. Our infidels and anarchists would re-enact this tragedy if they
should ever get the power. They openly profess their hatred and contempt
of our Sunday-laws, our Sabbaths, our churches, and all our religious insti-
tutions and societies. Let us beware of them ! The American system grants
freedom also to irreligion and infidelity, but only within the limits of the
order and safety of society. The destruction of religion would be the de-
struction of morality and the ruin of the state. Civil liberty requires for its
support religious liberty, and cannot prosper without it. Religious liberty
is not an empty sound, but a positive exercise of religious duties and en-
joyment of all its privileges. It is freedom in religion, not freedom from
religion ; as true civil liberty is freedom in law, and not freedom from
law. Says Goethe :
" In der Beschrankung nur zeigt sick der Meister,
Und das Gesetz nur kann dir Freiheit geben."
Destroy our churches, close our Sunday-schools, abolish the Lord's Day,
and our republic would become an empty shell, and our people would tend
to heathenism and barbarism. Christianity is the most powerful factor
in our society and the pillar of our institutions. It regulates the family,
it enjoins private and public virtue, it builds up moral character, it teaches
us to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves, it makes good
men and useful citizens, it denounces every vice, it encourages every virtue,
it promotes and serves public welfare, it upholds peace and order. Chris-
tianity is the only possible religion for the American people, and with Chris-
tianity are bound up all our hopes for the future.
This was strongly felt by Washington, the Father of his Country, " first
in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen ; " and no
passage in his immortal Farewell Address is more truthful, wise, and worthy
of constant remembrance by every American statesman and citizen than
that in which he affirms the inseparable connection of religion with moral-
ity and national prosperity.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL BASIS OF THE AMERICAN SYSTEM
The legal basis of American Christianity in its relation to the civil gov-
ernment is laid down in the Constitution of the United States. This great
document was framed after the achievement of national independence in a
convention of delegates from twelve of the original states (all except Rhode
294 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
Island), in the city of Philadelphia, between May 14 and September 17, 1787,
by the combined wisdom of such statesmen as Hamilton, Madison, King,
Sherman, Dickinson, Pinckney, Franklin, under the presiding genius of
Washington. It was ratified by eleven states before the close of the year
1788, and went into operation in March, 1789.* It was materially im-
proved by ten Amendments, which were recommended by several States
as a guaranty of fundamental rights, proposed by the first Congress in
1789-90, and adopted in 1 791. To these were subsequently added five
new Amendments, namely Article XL in 1793, Article XII. in 1803, Ar-
ticle XIII. in 1865, Article XIV. in 1868, Article XV. in 1870. The last
three are the result of the civil war, and forbid slavery, declare the citi-
zenship of all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and secure
the right of citizens to vote irrespective ".of race, color, or previous con-
dition of servitude."
This Constitution, including the fifteen Amendments, is "the supreme
law of the land " — that is, of all the States and Territories belonging to the
United States. It expresses the sovereign will and authority of the peo-
ple, which, under God, is the source of civil power and legislation in a free
country. It can only be altered and amended by the same authority. Ex-
perience has proved its wisdom and deepened the attachment to its pro-
visions. And, having stood the fiery ordeal of a gigantic civil war, it may
be considered safe and sound for generations to come. Although by no
means perfect, it is the best that could be made for this western republic
by its framers, whom Alexander Hamilton Stephens (the Vice-President
of the late Southern Confederacy) calls " the ablest body of jurists, legis-
lators, and statesmen that has ever assembled on the continent of Amer-
ica." Most of them were conspicuous for practical experience in states-
manship and for services to the cause of liberty, and they had the great
advantage of drawing lessons of wisdom from the British Constitution, the
Swiss and Dutch Confederacies, as well as from ancient Greece and Rome.
Mr. Gladstone, one of the most learned of English statesmen, calls the
American Constitution " the most wonderful work ever struck off at a
given time by the brain and purpose of man." Cardinal Gibbons, of Balti-
more, in accepting the invitation to open the centennial celebration of the
Constitution at Philadelphia, September, 1887, says: " The Constitution
of the United States is worthy of being written in letters of gold. It is a
* The remaining two states adopted the Constitution afterward — North Carolina, November
21, 1789 ; Rhode Island, May 29, 1790. During the deliberations for its adoption, it was ably de-
fended by Alexander Hamilton, of New York, James Madison, of Virginia, and John Jay, of New
York, in The Federalist C17B7 to 1788) against the attacks of the anti-Federalists.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 295
charter by which the liberties of sixty millions of people are secured, and
by which, under Providence, the temporal happiness of countless millions
yet unborn will be perpetuated."
Two provisions in this Constitution bear on the question of religion, and
secure its freedom and independence.
1. The Constitution declares, in Article VI., § 3, that all senators and
representatives of the United States, and the members of the several state
legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers, both of the United
States and of the several States, " shall be bound by oath or affirmation to
support the Constitution. But no religious test shall ever be required as a
qualificatioii to any office or public trust under the United States!'
This is negative, and excludes the establishment of any particular church
or denomination as the national religion. It secures the freedom and inde-
pendence of the state from ecclesiastical domination and interference.
Religious tests, whether of dogma or worship, were used by despotic
governments, especially in England under the Stuarts, as means of exclud-
ing certain classes of persons, otherwise qualified, from public offices and
their emoluments. Blackstone defends such tests as means of self-preserva-
tion. During the colonial period they were enforced in all our Colonies,
except in Rhode Island. The early settlers came from Europe to seek
freedom for themselves, and then inconsistently denied it to others,
from fear of losing the monopoly. Even in the Quaker state of Pennsyl-
vania toleration was limited by the Toleration Act of 1689, contrary to the
design of William Penn ; and all legislators, judges, and public officers had
to declare and subscribe their disbelief in transubstantiation, the adoration
of the Virgin Mary and other saints, and the sacrifice of the Romish mass,
as " superstitious and idolatrous," and their belief in the Holy Trinity
and the divine inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. This test was in force
from 1703 till the time of the Revolution, when, through the influence of
Benjamin Franklin, it was removed from the State Constitution framed by
the Convention of 1776. In Rhode Island, the Roman Catholics were de-
prived of the right of voting, but this disqualification is no part of the
original colonial charter, and is inconsistent with "the soul-liberty" of
Roger Williams, the founder of that state.
The framers of the Federal Constitution, remembering the persecution
of dissenters and nonconformists in the mother country and in several
American Colonies, cut the tree of persecution by the root, and substituted
for specific religious tests a simple oath or solemn affirmation.
The discontent with state-churchism and its injustice toward dissent-
ing convictions was one of the remote causes of the American Revolution.
296 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
2. More important than this clause is the First Amendment, which may
be called the Magna Charta of religious freedom in the United States.
The First Amendment provides that " Congress shall make no law re-
specting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ;
or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press ; or the right of the peo-
ple peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances."
This amendment is positive and protective, and constitutes a bill of
rights. It prevents not only the establishment of a particular church, but
it expressly guarantees at the same time the full liberty of religion in its
public exercise, and forbids Congress ever to abridge this liberty. Relig-
ious liberty is regarded as one of the fundamental and inalienable rights of
an American citizen, and is associated with the liberty of speech, and of the
press, and the right of petition.
A large number of the most valuable provisions of the English Magna
Charta and the Bill of Rights of 1688 consists of the solemn recognitions
of limitations upon the power of the Crown and the power of Parliament,
such as the right of trial by jury, the right of personal liberty and private
property, and the right to bear arms. It was left for America to secure
the most sacred of all rights and liberties to all her citizens.
The United States furnishes the first example in history of a government
deliberately depriving itself of all legislative control over religion, which was
justly regarded by all older governments as the chief support of public mo-
rality, order, peace, and prosperity. But it was an act of wisdom and jus-
tice rather than self-denial. Congress was shut up to this course by the
previous history of the American Colonies and the actual condition of
things at the time of the formation of the national government. The Con-
stitution did not create a nation, nor its religion and institutions. It found
them already existing, and was framed for the purpose of protecting them
under a republican form of government, in a rule of the people, by the
people, and for the people. All the branches of the Christian Church, ex-
cept the Oriental, were then represented in America. New England was
settled by Congregationalists; Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia, by
Episcopalians ; New York, by Dutch Reformed, followed by Episcopalians ;
Rhode Island, by Baptists; Pennsylvania, by Quakers; Maryland, by Ro-
man Catholics; while Presbyterians, Methodists, Lutherans, German Re-
formed, French Huguenots, Moravians, Mennonites, etc., were scattered
through several Colonies. In some states there was an established church;
in others the mixed system of toleration prevailed. The Baptists and
Quakers, who were victims of persecution and nurslings of adversity, pro-
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 297
fessed full religious freedom as an article of their creed. All Colonies,
with the effectual aid of the churches and clergy, had taken part in the
achievement of national independence, and had an equal claim to the pro-
tection of their rights and institutions by the national government.
The framers of the Constitution, therefore, had no right and no inten-
tion to interfere with the religion of the citizens of any state, or to dis-
criminate between denominations; their only just and wise course was to
put them all on an equal footing before the national law, and to secure to
them equal protection. Liberty of all is the best guaranty of the liberty
of each.
North America was predestined from the very beginning for the
largest religious and civil freedom, however imperfectly it was understood
by the first settlers. It offered a hospitable home to emigrants of all
nations and creeds. , The great statesmen of the Philadelphia Convention
recognized this providential destiny, and wisely adapted the Constitution
to it. They could not do otherwise. To assume the control of religion
in any shape, except by way of protection, would have been an act of
usurpation and been stoutly resisted by all the states.
Thus Congress was led by Providence to establish a new system, which
differed from that of Europe and the Colonies, and set an example to the
several states for imitation.
THE ACTION OF THE STATE CONVENTIONS
The conventions of the several states which were held during the year
1788 for the ratification of the Federal Constitution reflect the conflicting
sentiments then entertained on the question of religious tests. At present
nobody doubts the wisdom of that clause in the Constitution which re-
moves such tests. " No provisions of the Constitution of the United
States are more familiar to us," says a learned American historian,* " and
more clearly express the universal sentiment of the American people, or
are in more perfect harmony with the historic consciousness of the nation,
than those which forbid the national government to establish any form of
religion or to prescribe any religious test as a qualification for office held
under its authority. Almost every other general principle of government
embodied in that instrument has been discussed and argued about, and its
application in particular cases resisted and questioned, until the intention
of those who framed it seems lost in the Serbonian bog of controversy, yet
* Dr. Charles Stille, Religious Tests in Provincial Pennsylvania. A paper read before the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, November ^ 1885.
298 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
no one has ever denied the rightfulness of the principle of religious liberty
laid down in the Constitution."
But before the adoption of that instrument there was a wide difference
of opinion on this, as well as on other articles. The exclusion of religious
tests from qualification for public office under the general government was
opposed in those states which required such tests, under the apprehension
that without them the federal government might pass into the hands of
Roman Catholics, Jews, and infidels. Even the Pope of Rome, said a dele-
gate from North Carolina, might become President of the United States !
The opposition was strongest in Massachusetts, where Congregational-
ism was the established church. Major Lusk, a delegate to the convention
of that state, " shuddered at the idea that Romanists and pagans might be
introduced into office, and that Popery and the Inquisition may be estab-
lished in America." But the Rev. Mr. Backus, in answer to this objection,
remarked : " Nothing is more evident, both in reason and the Holy Scrip-
tures, than that religion is ever a matter between God and individuals ; and.
therefore, no man or men can impose any religious test without invading
the essential prerogatives of our Lord Jesus Christ. . . . Imposing of
religious tests has been the greatest engine of tyranny in the world. . . .
Some serious minds discover a concern lest if all religious tests should be ex-
cluded the Congress would hereafter establish Popery or some other tyran-
nical way of worship. But it is most certain that no such way of worship
can be established without any religious test." The same clergyman spoke
strongly against slavery, which " grows more and more odious in the world,"
and expressed the hope that, though it was not struck with apoplexy by
the proposed Constitution, it will die with consumption by the prohibition
of the importation of slaves after a certain date (1808). The Rev. Mr.
Shute was equally pronounced in his defense of the clause. " To establish
a religious test," he said, " as a qualification for office would be attended
with injurious consequences to some individuals, and with no advantage to
the whole. Unprincipled and dishonest men will not hesitate to subscribe
to anything. . . . Honest men alone, however well qualified to serve
the public, would be excluded by the test, and their country be deprived
of the benefit of their abilities. In this great and extensive empire there
is and will be a great variety of sentiments in religion among its inhabit-
ants. . . . Whatever answer bigotry may suggest, the dictates of can-
dor and equity will say : no religious tests. ... I believe that there
are worthy characters among men of every denomination — among Quakers,
Baptists, the Church of England, the Papists, and even among those who
have no other guide in the way of virtue and heaven than the dictates of
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 299
natural religion. . . . The Apostle Peter tells us that God is no re-
specter of persons, but in every nation he that feareth him and workcth
righteousness is acceptable to him. And I know of no reason why men of
such a character in a community, of whatever denomination in religion,
cceteris paribus, with other suitable qualifications, should not be acceptable
to the people, and why they may not be employed by them with safety
and advantage in the important orifices of government." The Rev. Mr. Pay-
son spoke in the same strain, and insisted that " human tribunals for the
consciences of men are impious encroachments upon the prerogatives of
God." It is very evident that these Congregational ministers of the gospel
represented the true American spirit in the convention, rather than Major
Lusk and Colonel Jones, who favored religious tests.'"
In the Convention of North Carolina, held July, 1788, the same fear was
expressed, that Jews, infidels, and Papists might get into offices of trust
without some religious tests; but among the twenty amendments proposed
as " a declaration of rights," and put on record, the last is, " that religion,
or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging
it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence ;
and, therefore, all men have an equal, natural, and inalienable right to the
free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, and that
no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by
law in preference to others." f
In Virginia, on the other hand, the exclusion of religious tests was re-
garded by the advanced liberal party as quite insufficient, and a more ex-
plicit guaranty against the establishment of a religion was demanded. In
that state the Church of England had been disestablished, and full liberty
secured to all forms of belief and unbelief, by an act of January 16, 1786,
several months before the framing of the Federal Constitution, by the com-
bined influence of the numerous religious dissenters (Presbyterians, Bap-
tists, Quakers, etc.) and the political school of Jefferson, who had early im-
bibed the Voltairian philosophy of toleration, and during his residence in
Paris (1 784-1 789) had intimately associated with the leaders of French infi-
delity. He composed the Declaration of Independence (1776), but had
nothing to do with the framing of the Federal Constitution (being then
absent in France) ; he rather opposed its centralizing features both in
Washington's cabinet, as Secretary of State, and as President, and founded
the anti-Federalist party and the state-rights theory, which afterwards
* Elliot's Debates in the several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution
(Washington, 1836), vol. ii. 156, 131-133.
f Elliot, vol. iv. 242, 244.
300 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
Logically developed into the nullification theory of Calhoun and the seces-
sion theory of Jefferson Davis. He was no member of the Convention of
Richmond in 1788, but his influence was thrown against the adoption of the
Constitution without sundry guaranties of individual and state rights. On
the guaranty for freedom of religion all parties of Virginia seem to have
been agreed. The Convention, therefore, recommended to Congress the
following amendment on this subject : " That religion, or the duty which
we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed
only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all
men have an equal, natural, and inalienable right to the free exercise of
religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular
religious sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in prefer-
ence to others."'*
Pennsylvania ratified the Constitution in December, 1787, before
Virginia, but a large minority dissented, and, failing to secure a new
national convention, issued a long address to their constituents called
" Reasons of Dissent," etc., in which fourteen amendments were pro
posed. Among these amendments, the first is a guaranty of religious
freedom.
In the first Congress, Madison, of Virginia, presented to the House of
Representatives nine amendments which are almost identical with nine
suggested by the minority of the Pennsylvania Convention. The House
enlarged the number to seventeen ; the Senate reduced them to twelve.
Of these the states rejected the first two and adopted ten, which were
declared in force December 15, 1791. Among these the first (which was
originally the third of the twelve) is by far the most important, and Penn-
sylvania, the Keystone State, seems therefore to be entitled to the chief
credit for it. This is quite consistent with her Quaker origin.
THE LIMITATION OF RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
The Federal Constitution does not limit religious liberty and the free
exercise thereof. But, in the nature of the case, all public liberty is lim-
ited by the supreme law of self-preservation, which inheres in a common-
wealth as well as in an individual ; and by the golden rule of loving our
neighbor as ourselves. Liberty is not lawlessness and licentiousness. No
* For the debates in Congress on the Amendments, see the Annals of Congress, Vol. I., 1789-
1791. The debates in the State Legislatures, if any, are inaccessible to me. Elliot gives merely
the debates on the adoption of the Constitution. * Elliot, iii. 594.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 301
man has the liberty to do wrong, or to injure his neighbor, or to endanger
the public peace and welfare. Religious liberty may be abused as well as
the liberty of speech and of the press, or any other liberty ; and all abuses
are punishable by law if they violate the rights of others. A religion
which injures public morals and enjoins criminal practices is a public
nuisance, and must be treated as such.
So far religious liberty in America has moved within the bounds of
Christian civilization, and it is not likely to transgress those bounds.
The first case in which the government was forced to define the limits
of religious liberty was the case of Mormon polygamy in Utah, which is
sanctioned by the Mormon religion. The Congress of the United States
has prohibited polygamy by law, and the Supreme Court has sustained the
prohibition as constitutional. In the decision, Chief-Justice Waite thus
defines the bounds of the religious liberty guaranteed by the Constitution :
" Laws are made for the government of actions ; and while they cannot interfere with
men's religious belief and opinions, they may with the practice. Suppose one religiously
believed that human sacrifices were a necessary part of religious worship, would it be
seriously contended that the civil government could not interfere to prevent a sacrifice ?
To permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the
law of the land. Government could exist only in name under such circumstances." *
This decision is of the greatest importance. It would strictly exclude
from toleration also the public exercise of the Mohammedan and heathen
religions, which sanction polygamy or human sacrifice.
The popular hostility to the Chinese in California, and the congres-
sional restriction of Chinese immigration, are partly due to American
intolerance of the heathen customs and practices of that remarkable peo-
ple, who, by their industry and skill, have largely contributed to the devel-
opment of the material wealth of the Pacific States, and deserve a better
treatment than they have received.
How far the United States government may go xiereafter in the limita-
tions of religious liberty depends upon the course of public opinion, which
frames and interprets the laws in a free country.
The constitutions of the individual States, which guarantee religious
liberty, generally guard it against abuse, and expressly declare that " the
liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be so construed as to excuse
acts of licentiousness, or justify practices inconsistent with the peace and
safety of the state." f
* Reynolds vs. the United States, 98 Supreme Court Reports.
f So the Constitutions of New York, Illinois, California, and other States.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
THE CHARGE OF POLITICAL ATHEISM
The colonial charters, the Declaration of Independence, and most of
the State constitutions recognize, more or less explicitly, the great truths
of an all-ruling Providence in the origin and history of nations. The Con-
stitution of the United States, whether inadvertently or designedly, omits
the mention of God. Hence the charge of political atheism which is
brought against it, not only by European champions of the union of
church and state, but also by many Americans. During the Civil War,
when the religious sensibilities of the nation were excited to their inmost
depths, and the fate of the Union was trembling in the balance, a
" National Association to secure certain religious amendments to the Con-
stitution " was formed, for the purpose of carrying through Congress such
an alteration in the preamble as would recognize the national faith in God
and in Christ. The amendment is as follows, the insertions being included
in brackets :
" We, the people of the United States [humbly acknowledging Almighty God as the
source of all authority and power in civil government, the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ruler
among the nations, and his revealed will as the supreme law of the land, in order to con-
stitute a Christian government, and], in order to form a more perfect union, establish
justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general
welfare, and secure the [inalienable rights and] blessings of [life], liberty, [and the pur-
suit of happiness] to ourselves and our posterity [and all the inhabitants of the land], do
ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."*
These additions in the preamble, or enacting clause, to be operative,
would require a special provision in the Constitution itself, giving Congress
the power, by appropriate legislation, to gain the proposed end of estab-
lishing "a Christian government," and to forbid, under penalties, the pub-
lic exercise of non-Christian religions. This, again, would be an alteration
or express limitation of the First Amendment to the various forms of
Christianity. There is no prospect that such an amendment can ever com-
mand a majority in Congress and in the several states. The best chance
was passed when the amendments suggested by the war and the emancipa-
tion of the slaves were enacted. The Constitution of the Confederate
States, framed at Montgomery, Alabama, during the civil war (March,
1861), actually did insert Almighty God in the preamble of the revised
* See Proceedings of the National Convention to secure the Religious Amendment to the Consti-
tution of the U. S., held at Cincinnati Jan. ji and Feb. 1, 1872. Philadelphia, 1872. Compare,
also, the previous and subsequent publications of that Association, and their semi-monthly journal,
The Christian Statesman, Philadelphia. It has, I believe, ceased to exist.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 303
constitution, but that constitution died with the Confederacy in 1865.
The name of God did not make it more pious and justifiable.*
Our chief objection to such an amendment, besides its impracticability,
is that it rests on a false assumption, and casts an unjust reflection upon
the original document, as if it were hostile to religion. But it is neither
hostile nor friendly to any religion ; it is simply silent on the subject, as
lying beyond the jurisdiction of the general government. The absence of
the names of God and Christ, in a purely political and legal document, no
more proves denial or irreverence than the absence of those names in a
mathematical treatise, or the statutes of a bank or railroad corporation.
The title " Holiness " does not make the Pope of Rome any holier than
he is, and it makes the contradiction only more glaring in such characters
as Alexander VI. The book of Esther and the Songs of Solomon are un-
doubtedly productions of devout worshipers of Jehovah ; and yet the
name of God does not occur once in them.
We may go further and say that the Constitution not only contains
nothing which is irreligious or unchristian, but is Christian in substance,
though not in form. It is pervaded by the spirit of justice and humanity,
which are Christian. The First Amendment could not have originated in
any pagan or Mohammedan country, but presupposes Christian civilization
and culture. Christianity alone has taught men to respect the sacredness
of the human personality as made in the image of God and redeemed by
Christ, and to protect its rights and privileges, including the freedom of
worship, against the encroachments of the temporal power and the abso-
lutism of the state.
The Constitution, moreover, in recognizing and requiring an official
oath from the President and all legislative, executive, and judicial officers,
both of the United States and of the several states, recognizes the Supreme
Being, to whom the oath is a solemn appeal. In exempting Sunday from
the working days of the President for signing a bill of Congress, the Con-
stitution honors the claims of the weekly day of rest and the habits of a
Sunday-keeping nation ; and in the subscription "Anno Domini" it assents
to that chronology which implies that Jesus Christ is the turning-point of
history and the beginning of a new order of society. And, finally, the
* The Confederate Constitution follows the Federal Constitution very closely, but provides for
the theory of State Rights and for the protection of the institution of slavery, which caused the
civil war. The preamble reads as follows (with the characteristic words underscored): "We,
the people of the Confederate States, each State acting in its sovereign and independent character,
in order to form a permanent federal government, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility,
and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, invoking the favoi and guidance
of Almighty God, ordain and establish this Constitution of the Confederate States of America."
304 THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
framcrs of the Constitution were, without exception, believers in God and
in future rewards and punishments, from the presiding officer, who was a
communicant member of the Episcopal Church, down to the least ortho-
dox, as Franklin and John Adams, who were affected by the spirit of
English deism and French infidelity, but retained a certain reverence for
the religion of their Puritan ancestors, and recognized the hand of God
in leading them safely through the war of independence. Franklin pro-
posed the employment of a chaplain in the Convention, who should invoke
the wisdom and blessing of God upon the responsible work of framing laws
for a new nation.
The history of our general government sustains our interpretation. The
only example of an apparent hostility to Christianity is the treaty with
Tripoli, November 4, 1796, in which it is said — perhaps unguardedly and
unnecessarily — that the government of the United States is " not founded
on the Christian religion," and has no enmity against the religion of a Mo-
hammedan nation.* But this treaty was signed by Washington, who could
not mean thereby to slight the religion he himself professed. It simply
means that the United States is founded, like all civil governments, in the
law of nature, and not hostile to any religion. Man, as Aristotle says, is by
nature a political animal. f Civil government belongs to the kingdom of
the Father, not of the Son. Paul recognized the Roman Empire under
Nero as founded by God, and that empire persecuted the Christian religion
for nearly three hundred years. The modern German Empire and the
French Republic arose, like the United States, from purely political mo-
tives, but are not on that account irreligious or anti-Christian.
It is easy to make a plausible logical argument in favor of the propo-
sition that the state cannot be neutral, that no-religion is irreligion, and
that non-Christian is anti-Christian. But facts disprove the logic. The
world is full of happy and unhappy inconsistencies. Christ says, indeed,
" Who is not for me is against me," but he says also, with the same right,
"Who is not against me is for me." It is the latter, and not the former
truth which applies to the American state, as is manifest from its history
down to the present time.
Our Constitution, as all free government, is based upon popular sov-
* " As the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Chris-
tian religion ; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of
Mussulmans ; and as the United States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against
any Mohammedan nation, it is declared by the parties, that no pretext arising from religious opin-
ions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. See
Index to Foreign Treaties, United States Statutes at large, vol. viii.
\ avbpoo7Co<3 cpv6n noXirixdv £c3ov.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 305
ereignty. This is a fact which no one can deny. But this fact by no
means excludes the higher fact that all government and power on earth are
of divine origin, dependent on God's wiil and responsible to him (Rom.
xiii. 1). God can manifest his will through the voice of the people fully as
well as through the election of princes or nobles, or through the accident
of birth. In the ancient church even bishops (like Cyprian, Ambrose,
Augustin) and popes (like Gregory the Great) were chosen by the people,
and the vox populi was accepted as the vox Dei. When these come in con-
flict, we must obey God rather than man (Acts, iv. 29). All power, paren-
tal, civil, and ecclesiastical, is liable to abuse in the hands of sinful men,
and if government commands us to act against conscience and right, diso-
bedience, and, if necessary, revolution, becomes a necessity and a duty.
Vol. XVIII.-No. 4.— 21
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
THEIR ADMISSION INTO THE UNION
It is remarkable that in various encyclopedias and histories, as well
as in almanacs and other collections of government statistics, serious
discrepancies should be found as to three of the first four states ad-
mitted into the Union. In the case of Kentucky and Tennessee the
discrepancy concerns the governmental condition previous to their ad-
mission ; in the case of Ohio it concerns the time of admission. Kentucky,
according to some, was formed from a part of Virginia ; according to
others it was formed from the Territory of the United States south of the
river Ohio. So Tennessee is said by some to have been formed from
North Carolina, and by others, from the territory before mentioned. For
Ohio a number of different dates of admission are given, extending from
April 28, 1802, to March 3, 1803.
The Constitution provides that new states may be admitted by Con-
gress, but a new state may not be formed within the jurisdiction of an-
other state without the consent of its legislature. Vermont was the first
new state admitted. As New York claimed that Vermont was within her
boundaries, Congress made the consent of that state a condition of the
admission of Vermont. That consent was given in 1790, and on the 18th
of February, 1791, Congress passed an act admitting Vermont, to take
effect the 4th of March. Vermont, therefore, is said to have been formed
from a part of New York, and to have been admitted March 4, 1791.
On the 4th of February, 1791 , Congress enacted that on the first day of
June, 1792, Kentucky should be admitted into the Union. The act recites
that on the i8thof December, 1789, " the legislature of Virginia consented
that the district of Kentucky, within the jurisdiction of the said common-
wealth, and according to its actual boundaries at the time of passing the
act aforesaid, should be formed into a new state. This would seem to be
sufficiently explicit. Virginia consents that a certain district within her
jurisdiction may become a separate state, and Congress enacts that on a
certain day the said district shall be admitted as a state into the Union.
Yet in various official publications Kentucky is affirmed to have been a
territory, or part of a territory, prior to her admission.
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO 307
What territories had been organized up to that time ? There were two ;
"The territory of the United States northwest of the river Ohio," estab-
lished by the celebrated ordinance of July 13, 1787, and "the territory of
the United States south of the river Ohio," established May 26, 1790.
These included all the public domain to which at that time the United
States had undisputed title. If Kentucky ever existed in a territorial form,
it must have been under the second of these.
Up to this time six states had made to the United States cessions of
their claims to western territory. New York, whose claim extended from
the lakes to the Cumberland Mountains, ceded in 1781, and without reser-
vation. Virginia in 1784 ceded her claim on the north side of the Ohio,
but not that on the south. Massachusetts made cession in 1785, and Con-
necticut in 1786; both claims lying north of the Ohio. In 1787 South
Carolina ceded her claim to a narrow strip lying south of what is now
Tennessee; and in 1790 North Carolina ceded her claim to the territory
beyond the mountains west. Immediately after this cession, Congress
established the Territory south of the river Ohio. It embraced the cessions
made by the two Carolinas. Did it include Kentucky?
The only states that had laid claim to what is now Kentucky were
New York and Virginia. Had they both ceded to the United States their
claims to it, then Kentucky might have been regarded as part of the Terri-
tory south of the Ohio. New York had done this, but Virginia had not.
Her cession had no reference to any land south of the Ohio. And before
the act of May 26, 1790, creating that territory, had been passed, Congress
had recognized Kentucky as a part of Virginia. In the judiciary act of
1789, Virginia was divided into two judicial districts; one to consist of the
state of Virginia, except that part called the District of Kentucky, and to
be called Virginia District ; one to consist of the remaining part of the
state of Virginia, and to be called Kentucky District. It seems clear then
that Kentucky prior to its becoming a state was a part of Virginia, and
was not a territory.
We find, nevertheless, in various works, including some published by
the government, the assertion that Kentucky was a part of the Territory
south of the river Ohio. In the Ninth Census Report, Volume I., on
Population and Social Statistics, the map at page 570 puts Kentucky in the
"Territory south of the river Ohio." So on page 573 the cession by Vir-
ginia is spoken of as " including the state of Kentucky and the parts of
the states of Illinois, Ohio and Indiana which lie south of the Forty-first
parallel." On page 575, under the heading, " The Territory South of the
river Ohio," we read : " The district included the territory comprehended
308 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
in the present states of Kentucky and Tennessee, and the territory ceded
to the United States by the state of South Carolina."
In the Tenth Census Report, Vol. I., Population, the map for 1790,
facing page xii., puts Kentucky and Tennessee in the " Territory South of
the river Ohio," just as was done in the other map referred to above.
On page xiii. we read : " The States of Kentucky and Tennessee were then
[1790] known as the Territory south of the Ohio river." And on page
xiv., "During the decade just past [1790- 1800] Vermont formed from a
part of New York has been admitted to the Union ; also Kentucky and
Tennessee, formed from the ' Territory south of the river Ohio.' "
In " The Public Domain," printed as one of the House Miscellaneous
Documents, 2d Session, 47th Congress, and brought down to January 1,
1884, the same statement is found. Thus, on page 86, under the heading
Area of State cessions to the United States, we read : " The Virginia cessions
were for all the territory west of the State of Pennsylvania, and northwest
of the river Ohio and below the forty-first parallel of north latitude, and
the area of the state of Kentucky south of the river Ohio and north of her
southern boundary." The same is found in substance in other places of the
volume. In some instances there is a qualification, as on page 162, "The
territory of the United States south of the river Ohio was nominally
bounded north by the river Ohio." And again " Kentucky -nominally in
this territory, was admitted into the Union, June 1, 1792." So page 421,
" Kentucky was nominally in the Territory south of the river Ohio, but
contained no public domain."
Perhaps the compiler of the volume " The Public Domain," and the
compiler of the statistics of the Census Reports for 1870 and 1880, were
misled by the designation of the territory created by the act of May 26,
1790. In our day an organized territory has a name as much as a state ; it
is Dakota, Washington, Montana. But the act of 1790 was "An Act for the
government of the Territory of the United States south of the river Ohio,"
as the ordinance of 1787 was for the government of the territory north-
west of that river. As the latter territory began at the Ohio and extended
to the northwest, these compilers, and their predecessors probably,
thought the Territory south of the river Ohio must stretch southward from
the river itself. It is difficult to account in any other way for the state-
ments quoted above, that Kentucky was a part of the Territory south of
the river Ohio ; statements which I trust have been shown to be directly
contradictory to the facts of history. The use of the word " nominally"
by the compiler of " Public Domain," in some of the passages referred to,
shows that he was in doubt whether Kentucky belonged to the territory
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO 309
or not. Hence in that work, as in the Census Report, there are contradic-
tory statements. But truth is consistent and not contradictory. The
action of Congress, that of the Virginia legislature, and that of the people
of Kentucky show that Kentucky was never a part of any organized
territory, but was regarded as an integral part of the state of Virginia till
by the action of Congress it became a state, June 1, 1792.
The error as to Tennessee is of less frequent occurrence than the other,
and in character it is the opposite of that as to Kentucky. Tennessee,
which existed for some years as a territory, is sometimes asserted to have
been formed into a state directly from a part of the state of North Caro-
lina. But few words in addition to what has been said will be necessary to
point out this error.
On the 25th of February, 1790, North Carolina made cession to the
United States of her claim to the territory lying west of the mountains,
which cession was accepted April 2, of that year. On the 26th of May
following, Congress organized this, with the cession made by South Caro-
lina in 1787, into a territory under the name of " the Territory of the
United States south of the river Ohio." Of this territory William Blount
was made governor, and held the office till Tennessee became a state in
1796. In 1795 a census was taken under the direction of the territorial
legislature, and the population being found to amount to 60,000, the number
which by the ordinance of 1787 and the deed of cession of North Carolina
entitled the territory to admission into the Union, a convention was called
to form a constitution. The convention met, and on the 6th of February
adopted a constitution, which was forwarded to the general government
with a notification that on the 28th of March the territorial government
would end and the state government begin.
Congress evidently regarded this as the assumption of a right on the
part of the territory which did not belong to it ; but finally an act of
admission was passed June 1, 1796, the last day of the session. The act
recites that " Whereas by the acceptance of the deed of cession of the state
of North Carolina, Congress are bound to lay out into one or more states,
the territory thereby ceded to the United States : Be it enacted, etc., That
the whole of the territory ceded to the United States by the state of
North Carolina, shall be one state, etc., by the name and title of the state
of Tennessee."
The condition of Tennessee previous to its becoming a state was thus
that of a territory. Yet in various works, and in some regarded as of high
authority, it is spoken of as having been formed from North Carolina, as
310 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
Vermont from New York, Maine from Massachusetts, and West Virginia
from Virginia.
The same writers do not err as to both these states — Kentucky and
Tennessee. Those that are wrong as to one are usually right as to the
other. The error consists in classing them together in their origin. In the
census reports both are said to have been territories ; in the American
Almanac both are said to have been formed from other states. Each au-
thority is half right and half wrong.
In the case of Ohio the question is not one of government status pre-
vious to admission, but of the date of admission. When was Ohio ad-
mitted into the Union ? Various dates are found in historical and sta-
tistical works, as April 28, April 30, June 30, November 29, 1802; Feb-
ruary 19, March 1, and March 3, 1 803. Why this diversity of date as
to Ohio ? For all the other new states acts or resolutions of admission
were passed declaring the fact in express terms. Thus, " the said state,
by the name and style of 'The State of Vermont,' shall be received and
admitted into this Union." The same form in the case of Kentucky is
used. For Louisiana and Indiana the language is, " The said state shall
be one, and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America,"
etc. In the case of Ohio there is no act of Congress declaring admission
in these terms. The act which seems to take place of such a declaration
is : " An act to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United
States within the state of Ohio."
The various dates given above are mentioned incidentally. The first
date, April 28, 1802, is in " Harris' Tour," pp. 91, 184. The second,
April 30, is in a note in the ''United States Statutes at Large," Vol I., p.
ii. The editor gives in the note the dates of admission of all the new
states. Of Ohio he says: "Ohio was established as a state of the Union
by act of April, 1802." The third, June 30, appears in the Report of
the Ninth Census, Vol. I., p. 575. The language is, " Ohio, by act of
June 30th, 1802, formed as a state," etc. The fourth date, November
29, is given by Hickey in his edition of the Constitution. The fifth,
February 19, 1803, is in the National Almanac, 1820, by Peter Force.
Hildreth, in his History of the United States, seems to give March 1, as
the date, which makes the sixth. In Walker's History of Athens county,
Ohio, p. 141, we have the seventh, March 3, 1803. Some of these dates
are often found, especially November 29, 1802, and February 19, 1 803.
For the first and third there seems to be absolutely no reason; though
one is found in the Census Report for 1870, and the author of a biographi-
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO 311
cal work published in 1886 regards the authority of Harris as conclusive
for the elate April 28, 1802: " To make the argument cumulative, the
Rev. Thaddeus Mason Harris shall be called as a witness."* On the 30th
of June Congress was not in session, having adjourned nearly two months
before. The 1st of March was the day on which the general assembly of
Ohio met under the constitution, and on the 3d of March Congress passed
an act assenting to certain propositions made by the convention regarding
reservations of land.
In some works we find the two dates, April 30 and November 29,
1802, combined ; the first being given as the date of the passage of the act
of admission, and the second as the day on which it took effect. Thus
Von Hoist, in his "Constitutional Law of the United States," p. 33, says:
"The twenty-five new states have been admitted in the following order:
Kentucky, February 4th, 1791 (June 1st, 1792); Vermont, February 18th,
1791 (March 4th, 1791) ; Tennessee, June 1st, 1796; Ohio, April 30th,
1802 (November 29th, 1802) ; " etc. The dates in parentheses are those in
which the acts of admission took effect.
There are strong objections to the arrangement of states followed by
Von Hoist and others. It is contrary to historical verity. It puts Ken-
tucky first on the list of new states, whereas Vermont was, in fact, a state
of the Union fifteen months before Kentucky. Nor is there any com-
mon principle of classification between the case of Vermont and that of
Ohio in the list given above. For Vermont, Congress passes on a given
day a definite and absolute act of admission, to take effect on a future
specified day. For Ohio, Congress authorizes the formation of a constitu-
tion and state government, which must be republican, etc., which state shall
be admitted at some future time. Between the two cases there is no like-
ness. A third principle of arrangement appears in the case of Indiana.
On the 19th of April, 1816, an enabling act was passed : the convention
met, formed a constitution, and on the 29th of June adjourned. The 19th
of April and 29th of June, 18 16, are for Indiana precisely what April 30
and November 29 are for Ohio ; and on any correct principle of classifi-
cation they should so appear in Von Hoist's table of new states. But
these two dates for Indiana are entirely ignored by him, and in place we
find December 11, as the one date of admission. In his tabular list of
new states Von Hoist has followed one principle of classification for Ver-
mont and Kentucky, another for Ohio, and a third for Indiana. One
rarely finds a more palpable case of logical cross-division.
* Harris in a note refers to the act of Congress printed in the Appendix of his work. This
act we find to be the enabling act of April 30, 1802. April 28 is manifestly a typographical error.
312 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
The question as to the admission of Ohio is between the dates No-
vember 29, 1802, and February 19, 1803. On the 30th of April, 1802,
Congress passed " an aet to enable the people of the eastern division of
the Territory northwest of the river Ohio to form a constitution and state
government, and for the admission of such state into the Union on an
equal footing with the original states." The constitution was formed by
a convention that met on the 1st and adjourned on the 29th of November
of that year. Those who regard this last as the proper date of admission
for Ohio hold that when the constitution was formed, and the work of the
convention finished, Ohio ceased to be a territory and became a state.
They base their opinion on the language of the enabling act. This
authorized the people to form a constitution and state government, " and
the said state, when formed, shall be admitted into the Union," etc. If
Ohio became a state when the convention had finished its work, then after
Congress has passed an enabling act for a territory it has nothing further
to do. The people send delegates to the convention, a constitution is
formed, the convention adjourns, and presto, a new state is in the Union.
The words " shall be admitted " in the enabling act must in that case be
interpreted as equivalent to " shall become a state." No action of Congress
in the way of admitting is thought necessary, but the territory comes in
sponte sua. There happens to be a case in point. It is that of Tennessee
already referred to. The people of the territory south of the Ohio were
entitled to all the privileges granted by the ordinance of 1787. In that it
was stipulated, whenever any division shall have 60,000 free inhabitants it
" shall be admitted." The territorial legislature ordered a census to be
taken, found the requisite number of inhabitants, formed a constitution
and state government, and notified Congress that on the 28th of March
Tennessee would become a state. The machinery of state government was
immediately set in operation, and two United States senators were elected,
who presented themselves with their credentials at Washington. Congress,
however, thought differently. The Senate regarded the territorial pro-
ceedings as irregular, and voted that the preliminary measures be taken
anew. Eventually the Senate yielded, and a bill to admit was passed the
last day of the session. But no one in either house dreamed of regarding
as final the action of the territory in making the 28th of March the date
of transition from territory to state. While the right to be admitted was
conceded, no one pretended that Tennessee could become a state without
the consent of Congress. The language of Mr. Gallatin was, that if they
had 60,000 free inhabitants " it became the duty of Congress to admit
them into the Union whenever they had satisfactory proof of the fact."
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO 313
Admission was thus to be accomplished through the agency of Congress,
and after Congress had been satisfied that the requirements had been met.
In the case of Tennessee, admitted before Ohio, and in that of every state
admitted since, Congress has interpreted the words "shall be admitted " as
meaning an admission by the action of that body subsequent to the forma-
tion of the state constitution. If Ohio is an exception, the reasons for so
regarding it should be made clear beyond any possible doubt.
There is another point which deserves notice in this connection. In the
enabling act for Ohio there is a proviso. A constitution and state govern-
ment might be formed, " provided the same shall be republican, and not
repugnant to the ordinance of July 13, 1787." Who is to say whether the
constitution is republican, and in accord with the ordinance of 1787? The
convention that frames it, or Congress that authorizes it and requires it
to possess certain features ? When, under this enabling act, the conven-
tion has formed a constitution, we should expect it to be at once reported
to Congress, with whom is the sole power to admit, for examination. If
the constitution is found to be republican and in accordance with the ordi-
nance of 1787, the admission would naturally follow. But the difficulties
in the way of regarding the state existence as beginning on the adjournment
of the convention, before any report to Congress, and before any exami-
nation by that body of the constitution, are insuperable.
What took place after the adjournment of the convention November
29? The constitution, as we might expect, was laid before Congress.
The first action was in the Senate January 7 :
" Resolved, That a committee be appointed to inquire whether any, and,
if any, what, legislative measures may be necessary for admitting the state
of Ohio into the Union, or for extending to that state the laws of the
United States." On the 19th this committee made this report :
'* That the people of the eastern division of the Territory northwest of
the river Ohio, in pursuance of an act of Congress, passed on the 30th day
of April, 1802, entitled 'An act to enable etc' did on the 29th day of
November, 1802, frame for themselves a constitution and state govern-
ment. That the said constitution and government so formed is republican,
and in conformity to the principles contained in the articles of the ordi-
nance made on the 13th of July, 1787, for the government of the said
Territory ; and that it is now necessary to establish a district court within
the said state, to carry into complete effect the laws of the United States,
within the same."*
* This report is not found in the Annals of Congress, but was furnished me from the manuscriDts
in the Department of State.
314 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
Two days later the report was considered and the committee instructed
to bring in a bill. This was done on the 27th ; the bill was considered,
amended, and passed February 7. It was passed by the House on the
I2th, and approved by the President on the 19th. Its title is "An act to
provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the
state of Ohio." It was the first congressional act relating to Ohio since
the convention, and it was a recognition of the new state by Congress. As
such it takes the place of an act of admission in the usual form, and its date
may be regarded as the date of the admission of Ohio. In the volume of
Charters and Constitutions compiled by order of the Senate, and printed in
1877, it occupies the place which for every other state is occupied by the
act of admission. The heading is " Act recognizing the State of Ohio —
1803."
The Senate committee had reported the constitution republican and in
accord with the ordinance of 1787, and there was nothing to prevent the
recognition of the new state. In the case of Indiana the statement that
the constitution and state government are republican and in accordance
with the ordinance of 1787 is in the preamble of the resolution for admis-
sion, while in the case of Ohio it is in the report of the committee already
quoted. The same investigation had been made in the two cases, and the
same results had been reached. Congress had satisfied itself in each case
as to the constitution before it would admit or recognize the state.
Thus far the act of February 19 has been considered simply as one of
recognition. As the first relating to Ohio after the formation of the con-
stitution in November, 1802, it has been regarded as a virtual act of ad-
mission, and as determining the date of the state. While believing the
reasons for taking this date instead of November 29, 1802, to be amply suf-
ficient, the argument may be greatly strengthened by considering the sub-
ject-matter of the act of February 19, 1803. Its title is " An act to provide
for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the state of
Ohio." The act declares " that the said state shall be one district, and be
called the Ohio district ; and a district court shall be held therein, to con-
sist of one judge, who shall reside in the said district, and be called a dis-
trict judge." It provides also for the appointment of a district-attorney
and a marshal.
The judicial system of the United States consisted of three classes of
courts : the supreme, the circuit, and the district. By the act of 1789, estab-
lishing the judicial courts, each state was made a district for judicial pur-
poses ; except that Maine and Kentucky, parts of other states, were made
separate districts. But the United States judiciary system did not extend
KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO 315
to the territories. The Northwest Territory had its own courts. So has
every territory established since. A citizen of a territory could not in
1789, as he cannot now, be a party to a suit in a United States court.
When, therefore, the act of February 19, 1803, declared Ohio to be a dis-
trict in the judiciary system of the United States, it declared it to be a
state. The establishment of a district court in it, to take the place of the
territorial court, transformed it from a territory into a state. Ohio could
not be a judicial district of the United States and at the same time be a
territory. The two things were absolutely incompatible.
At the opening of Congress, December 2, 18 16, two senators from In-
diana presented themselves, and their credentials were read. As already
stated, a constitution and state government had been formed by the peo-
ple of that territory the preceding June. When the credentials were read,
Mr. Morrow, a senator from Ohio, moved the appointment of a committee,
" to inquire whether any, and if any, what, legislative measures may be
necessary for admitting the state of Indiana into the Union, or for extend-
ing to that state the laws of the United States." The resolution, it will
be noticed, is couched in the identical words used as to Ohio fourteen years
before. The committee reported on the 4th, and on the 6th a resolution
was passed, " That the state of Indiana shall be one, and is hereby de-
clared to be one, of the United States of America," etc. It was laid before
the House the same day, read twice, and referred to the committee of the
whole. Some members wished to take it up that day, considering the
resolution as a matter of form merely; but others thought that " so sol-
emn an act as pronouncing on the character and republican principles of a
state constitution ought to be more deliberately considered." On the 9th
the constitution was read through for the further information of the House,
and its verification examined. The resolution was then read a third time
and passed. It was approved on the 10th, and on the 12th the senators
were sworn in and took their seats.
The identity of these two resolutions of inquiry could not have been
accidental. Senator Morrow in 18 16 introduced an exact copy of the reso-
lution of 1803. Each resolution suggests a choice between two measures,
the committees make the same inquiries, and, as a basis for legislative ac-
tion, report the same condition of facts in the two cases — the constitution
and government republican and in conformity to the ordinance of 1787 —
but in 1803 one of the two measures is proposed, and in 1816 the other.
Why did Senator Morrow introduce a resolution with an alternative?
Why not limit it to measures for admission ? Unquestionably because the
measures were equivalent. The end in view would be accomplished by
316 KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, OHIO
one as well as by the other. Had the Senate committee reported a bill to
extend the laws of the United States to the state of Indiana, instead of
a resolution of admission, and the bill had passed, the senators would have
taken their seats just the same.
If the Senate Committee in January, 1803, had reported a resolution for
the admission of Ohio, and the resolution had passed the two houses and
received the approval of the President, no one doubts that the date of
Ohio would thereby have been determined. The day of adjournment of
the convention would have been no more thought of as the date, than the
analogous date as to Indiana was in 18 16. But the act of February 19,
1803, making Ohio a judicial district, was an act of equal potency with an
act of admission. It accomplished all that the other could have accom-
plished in making Ohio a state. That the Senate of 1803 and that of 18 16
regarded the alternative measures proposed for transforming a territory
into a state as of exact equivalence, seems to admit of no doubt. A care-
ful study of the proceedings of Congress connected with the admission of
the first six new states leaves the clear conviction that the act of February
19, 1803, was one that made, and was intended to make, Ohio a state. *
* President Jefferson's nomination to the Senate of Griffin Greene and Joseph Wood, "of
Marietta, in the Territory northwest of the river Ohio," January 11, 1803, and of Messrs. Byrd, Bald-
win and Ziegler, " of the State of Ohio," March 1, 1803, while in harmony with the date February
19, 1803, is, of course, inexplicable with that of November 29, 1802. With the latter as the correct
date, he would, indeed, have been guilty of a blunder greater than he was ever known to commit.
A certificate of marriage given by Rev. Daniel Story, of Marietta, " that Levi Barber (after-
wards member of Congress) and Betsey Rouse, both of Washington County, Territory northwest
of the river Ohio, were joined in the bonds of wedlock on the 15th of February, 1803," shows the
opinion at Marietta. Mr. Story had, as parishioners, General Rufus Putnam and Benj. Ives Gi;-
man, members of the Ohio constitutional convention ; Paul Fearing, territorial delegate in Con-
gress ; and Colonel R. J. Meigs and W. R. Putnam, members of the territorial legislature.
Of like import is the letter of Edward Tiffin, president of the constitutional convention (after-
wards governor of Ohio) written to the Senate in December, 1802, and dated at " Chillicothe,
N. W. Territory."
DANIEL WEBSTER
Thirty-five years ago Daniel Webster uttered his last words : " I still
live." They are memorable and typical words. It matters not whether
they were simply the expression of a mere consciousness of existence, or
a prophetic forecast of the permanence of his influence and fame in the
country which he so powerfully contributed to establish on its foundations.
In view of the events which preceded or have followed the life of the great
statesman, we are able to see a profound significance in them.
Daniel Webster still lives, because the Constitution with which he was
identified has survived the greatest shock that was capable of bringing it
into jeopardy. He still lives, because he was one of the few who are ap-
propriately called men of destiny. Every age has its brilliant minds, that
make a stir in the little world in which they move, and are thought by their
contemporaries, and perhaps by themselves, to be men of genius born to
immortality ; some of them, perhaps, are exceptionally gifted. But they are
soon forgotten ; we see that their careers were of narrow scope, their tal-
ents scarce above the average ; they have been only so many additional units
coming into the world according to certain general laws that regard not in-
dividuals, but only the aggregate of our common humanity. But from
time to time, in important national or cosmic crises, men appear to whom
the world naturally turns as the exponents of the demands of the age. By
leadership or by suffering, these men tide mankind over a great crisis; will-
ingly or unwillingly their lives mark milestones in the progress of the race.
Epochs end and begin with them, whether in the province of thought or
the sphere of action. In their appearance at the opportune moment, the
world feels, if it does not always acknowledge, that they are the inspired
heralds of the powers that control this planet ; in a word, they are men of
destiny. As such they must live.
Daniel Webster was a representative of one of the most critical and
important periods in the history of our Republic, the central figure in a
movement which began with the adoption of the Constitution by the
states, and terminated with the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court
House, although the results are destined to continue during the term of
our national existence.
In order thoroughly to understand the character and appreciate the
work of Webster, it is essential to consider the nature of events, the shift-
318 DANIEL WEBSTER
ing of opinion, the consolidation of sections, and the final acceptance of
the principles that developed his genius and identified him forever with
the institutions of this great republic. He occupied the middle period of
our history, and was its central figure, the leader who successfully foiled
the very grave perils which threatened to dissipate our national existence
— after Washington had launched the ship of State and Hamilton had
equipped it for a prosperous voyage. Hardly was the good vessel out of
port than she encountered a network of formidable and unexplored reefs.
Webster was the skilled and intrepid pilot who steered her clear and
taught our mariners the only sure way to navigate the precious craft
intrusted to their care.
It was the great argument against Hayne — not only the greatest oratori-
cal effort of Webster, but the most momentous oration since Demosthenes
thrilled the soul of Greece on the plains of Athens — that taught to genera-
tions yet unborn the true significance of the compact into which the states
of America had entered. The civil war of 1861 was simply the logical re-
sult of that speech on the Foote Resolutions. But for the clear under-
standing of the Constitution then presented by the tremendous genius of
Webster, the Northern and Western states would never have offered such
united opposition to secession, when the storm at first burst, and the
border states would have given more hearty assent to the practical results
of the teachings of Calhoun. We are able now to discern more clearly
than his contemporaries the bearings of Webster's eloquence.
Webster had yet another mission to perform for his country, no less
important, but far more painful and inglorious than the achievements of
his colossal brain. Christ said to Peter, " Men shall carry thee whither
thou wouldst not." A great principle is therein laid down, that the leaders
in the world's progress must often undergo severe and involuntary suffer-
ing for the sake of accomplishing the destiny for which they were created.
The very great height reached by Daniel Webster made the humiliation
proportionally profound, when one of the mightiest intellects America has
produced was pitted against a politician of diminutive proportions like
Fillmore, and failed, after the utmost effort of his friends, in receiving
more than 32 votes to Mr. Fillmore's 133 votes, not one vote being cast for
him by a Southern delegate. It was necessary that the country should learn,
from the treatment accorded to a man like Webster, the determination of
the South, the fixed resolve, the inflexible purpose of the slaveocracy to
rule without regard to whom they immolated on the altar of their Moloch.
The blow which hastened the death of Mr. Webster opened the eyes of
the North and strengthened the opposition of sections which he had so
DANIEL WEBSTER 319
earnestly labored to prevent during all his public career, but which had
now become necessary if we were to have a republic of the free as well as
surcease from destructive agitation. In the two pivotal events of his life,
the culminating speech of 1830, whose majestic periods, whose burning
flights of eloquence, whose clear and irresistible logic shall ring down all
the ages, and the convention of 1852, when his lofty genius with trailing
robes passed from the public arena through the valley of humiliation to the
tomb, we see exemplified alike the leading traits of Mr. Webster's char-
acter and genius.
Tender he was : what father ever sorrowed more deeply as his children,
one by one, left his side to lie under the daisies of Marshfield by the moan-
ing waves of the gray Atlantic ? What man of affairs ever displayed such
pathetic regret for the lost partner of his youth ? What man of the world,
when allusion was made by a stranger to his brother buried across the seas,
gave such tears to his memory ? Yes, he was a man of pure sentiments, of
deep and sincere emotions. His love went out to nature likewise ; the cat-
tle of the fields were among his friends; the sunset, the verdure of May,
the sad russet of October, all appealed to his heart.
But it was a remarkable trait in his character that he carried his heart with
him into public affairs. Men called him stern ; the massive grandeur of his
physical proportions, of his deportment, his look, his speech, led those who
saw him only in his public character to conclude that he was cold, unre-
lenting, intellectually a monarch, but scant of blood as the bronze statue
of him which stands before the State House at Boston. In view of the
magnificent inspiration that fired his eloquence on so many patriotic occa-
sions it seems difficult for us at this period to understand how such an
opinion of him could have obtained ; for as we read his speeches it re-
quires little fancy to imagine that many of their most glowing passages,
like strophes of a Greek chorus, could only have issued from one moved not
only by intellectual resource, but also by vast vehemence, by Titanic emo-
tion. No man without a heart as well as an imagination could have cast
such a spell over Southron and Northman alike in the halls of the Capitol,
or carried by storm the opposition of the vast audience which he encoun-
tered in 1842 in Faneuil Hall.
The leading quality of Mr. Webster's mind and character was patriot-
ism. But what is patriotism without heart ? For over thirty years he was
the impersonation of the national spirit. " There are no Alleghanies in
my politics," he said. There was no North nor South, no East nor West to
him, but one country, one constitution, one flag ! When shall we see his
like again ? God knows we need such patriots now.
3^0 DANIEL WEBSTER
Yes, he loved his country with all the fervor of a great nature ; it was
the ruling principle of his life ; it was for this he won imperishable renown
and suffered the keenest anguish. Conservative by nature, this quality
grew stronger as he advanced in years, a frequent occurrence with men.
So great was his dread of aught that threatened the existence and unity of
his beloved land, that the same motive which led him to withstand nullifi-
cation and Calhoun, led him, in the closing years of his life, to adopt a
course with regard to the South which was painfully misunderstood, owing
to the heated passions of the time. Friends forsook him, the press poured
on his name its deadliest venom, and a cloud shadowed his reputation
which has not yet entirely passed away.
Although few would deny at the present time that Mr. Webster com-
mitted a grave error of judgment at that point in his career, yet the more
his character is analyzed the more evident does it appear that the motives
which were paramount in his mind were unselfish and patriotic. That he
was ambitious to see his great achievements crowned by the bestowal of
the highest office in the gift of the people there is no doubt ; and who
shall blame him ? It is not the ambition that is to be deprecated, but the
methods often taken to gratify it, and the effect produced on the char-
acter of the aspirant, if he fails to appreciate the actual worth of this
brief honor. His great disappointment, after the final failure to receive
a nomination, arose from the fact that he had not yet discerned, what
a century of elections has demonstrated, that the Presidency is like a
hereditary dynasty in the matter of the distribution of ability. History
shows us that the founders of a dynasty are invariably men of exceptional
ability. At different periods their successors are, according to the de-
mands of a period, men of merely average or even mediocre qualities, or
of commanding talents, this alternation of ability continuing from age to
age. If the extremes of intellectual and moral force and weakness are
less marked in the Presidential succession, nevertheless the same law
has placed in the White House some of the greatest minds that have
appeared in the arena of American politics, and some of the smallest. So
clearly has this now been shown to be a law alike with presidents as with
kings, that no aspirant to that exalted position need suffer mortification at
exclusion, nor, on the other hand, can any incumbent find cause for over-
elation in view of the fact that among his predecessors he may find those
whose elevation is a puzzle to men of faith, and a cause of cynicism to
pessimists.
Daniel Webster was so far the intellectual superior of every President
who held office during his long career, that it was no disgrace for him to fail
DANIEL WEBSTER 32 1
of the Presidency ; the honor was of little moment if wrung from a genera-
tion that preferred them to him. During that period, excepting when
Jackson paraded at the capital in fustian and feathers much as Mills has
exhibited him in his terrible equestrian statue, there was no concatenation
of events that would have given Webster half the opportunity to acquire
genuine fame, half the scope for the exercise of his extraordinary powers
that he found in the positions he actually held with such admirable skill
and such permanent results.
But granting with his enemies that Webster had ambition, " that last
infirmity of noble minds," it does not follow that his apparent abdication
to the South was wholly inspired by this ambition. The most prominent
trait of Webster's character was his conservatism. He was not aggres-
sive or actively progressive. His mind was satisfied with the actual.
As a statesman he was far-seeing, it is true, but during his day it was
not radical measures that were required, but the full and general ac-
ceptance of the Constitution and the laws, of adapting and applying
them to circumstances as they should arise ; and yet already the country
was divided into parties of extremists, who only agreed when they
combined to impugn the patriotism and attack the sincerity of that class
of men who by temperament are naturally opposed to radical changes,
and prefer to leave something to the modifying influences of time. To
the latter class Webster emphatically belonged ; with him the love of
the entire country was what religion is to a devotee — it was a cult that
grew with increasing age. Everywhere, on all occasions for fifty years,
that was the burden of his public utterances. On the lake, before his
mansion at Marshfield, a boat was anchored expressly that he might ever
see before him the flag he loved waving from its mast ; in his last sickness,
a lantern was attached to the mast in order that he might still seethe
flag from his bedside as death gradually approached. Why more than
his contemporaries Webster should have been so moved by a glow of
patriotism we know not, unless we accept the theory that it was his mission
to foster the national spirit in a community already so torn by centrifugal
forces that it was in danger of extinction. Therefore we say that Webster
was moved by something more than ambition when he appeared to
change his political course in 1842, and continued to fall away from his
political friends and party until death closed one of the saddest episodes
in our political history. His dread of disunion, his hope that time would
suggest a remedy, kept him stationary, while the country he had helped to
establish moved on to accomplish its manifest destiny. Regrets we may
justly award him, but now that the passions of that period are over, and
Vol. XVIII.— No. 4.-22
322 DANIEL WEBSTER
that the entire country accepts his interpretation of the Constitution, he
must have imperfectly studied the career of the great expounder who in
calling him unfortunate would add the epithet insincere.
The same observations apply to estimates of Mr. Webster's religious
beliefs. In our day there are many who find it difficult to understand how
a mind so logical, so acute, so clear, could have exhibited such a profound
and often reiterated faith in what is termed revealed religion. That he had
his doubts is evident. But his conservative spirit was again displayed in
this case ; he could not depart intellectually from the principles imbibed
with his native air on the New Hampshire hills, however his practice might
sometimes have been at variance with them.
And this leads us to allude to the failings of his moral nature. Greatly
exaggerated as they have been, the fact yet remains that Mr. Webster's
intellect outweighed proportionately the moral side of his character. As
a companion, genial and winning, tender in all his domestic relations, his
social intercourse warmed by a sense of humor free from malice, dignified
with his equals, not condescending to his inferiors, he added to these
admirable social traits a modesty that is rare among minds of his calibre.
Unlike Mr. Gladstone, he did not strongly assert himself in his own house,
he did not frown on those who ventured to differ with him in opinion, he
did not " talk shop," he shrunk from discussing the events in which he had
taken so prominent a part, not that he was unconscious of them — his abil-
ity and his achievements ; he could not but be aware of his power and
position. As Caesar bade the seamen in a storm lay aside alarm, for they
carried Caesar, so Webster, after addressing his family on his deathbed,
asked, with deep earnestness: " Have I, on this occasion, said anything
unworthy of Daniel Webster? " Did not that sentiment show him to be
one of the greatest among the intellectual kings of the earth ? And yet
this very pride made him unwilling to parade his attainments, and his
modesty led him to avoid offensive assertion of his personality in the
peaceful domesticity of home. But they tell us that this great man's
career was stained by serious blemishes ; for these some of his friends fell
away from him, and some of his colleagues, carried away by partisan bit-
terness, sought to impeach him. Yet they are now forgotten, while he
" still lives." The perfect man has not yet come ; the character equally
well balanced has not yet walked this earth. The perfect man would be
useless here, for he would be outside of human sympathy. " One touch
of nature makes the whole world kin." Washington ought not to have
dropped an oath at Monmouth ; but the fact that he did, undoubtedly
helped him to the Presidency. Not that men approved the oath, but they
DANIEL WEBSTER 323
who thought him cold, or gazing down on the baser herd from aristocratic
heights, saw in this act evidence that a human heart beat under his uni-
form and warmed that stately mien. Per contra, if a man of genius has
too much " human nature," people say " no man is a hero to his valet."
If this means anything, it means that the valet, and the world with him,
have not discovered that a great man is simply a man, always a mere man,
plus the genius or the moral grandeur. They assume because he has human
traits, or foibles, or weaknesses, because he is not free from them like a
statue, or does not show his wings in this life, that he is exactly on the
same level with themselves. The world of mediocrity goes on piously
turning up the whites of the eyes and gloating on the errors of great men,
while repeating with " damnable iteration," that " no man is a hero to his
valet."
Granting, then, that Webster was human in his weaknesses, we still
maintain that such stress should not be laid on them as to blind us to the
incalculable services he rendered to every American citizen as long as this
Republic shall endure. Of the most prominent defect in the character of
Webster — his apparent inability to care for his personal accounts and
appreciate the value of pecuniary obligations — it may be urged in pallia-
tion that the capitalists of this country should be the last to condemn
him. No class of the community benefited more by his services, in finan-
cial as well as constitutional questions. It was they who induced him to
enter political life; it was they who repeatedly persuaded him to remain in
public life when the state of his finances inclined him to return to the
practice of a lucrative profession. Aside from the fact that he had no pri-
vate fortune, while our parsimonious government and our people expect
much expenditure from our public servants, in excess of the meager sala-
ries allowed, men of business should remember that business is their voca-
tion ; to fail in that is to write down their life a failure. It no more follows
because they succeed as financiers that they would succeed as statesmen,
as artists, as authors, as scientists, than that the latter would succeed as
financiers. While all are of importance to the welfare of the state, capital-
ists ask too much when they expect a man whose genius is devoted to giv-
ing new thought and impulse to his country and his race, to find time and
strength to be sufficiently painstaking in pecuniary matters for his own
interests ; and if his affairs become involved, it should be considered a
misfortune rather than a misdemeanor. William Pitt, one of the greatest
of ministers of finance, was hopelessly in debt. Is that to be imputed to
him as a crime by his countrymen, who profited by the prodigious exer-
tions of his patriotic genius?
324 DANIEL WEBSTER
We go a step further, and assert that moneyed men who are always
in funds to donate to public institutions, ostentatious charities, cathedral
windows, and the like, should remember that they benefit the public quite
as much when, in a private way, they assist the thinkers. Nor should it be
held against such thought-workers if they so accept such attempts to lighten
their struggles. Without expressing an opinion as to what extent Mr.
Webster was in error in this matter, it is safe to say that none of the men
of wealth who aided him in his pecuniary difficulties are likely to be the
losers by the transaction either in this world or the next.
The fair fame of great men and public benefactors is among the noblest
treasures of a nation. To sully their reputation without sufficient reason
is akin to a crime. He who lightly does it for mere party purposes, or from
unfairness in considering the relations of things, is an enemy to his country.
Let us combat our political foes by attacking their principles if need
be, but to resort to personal attacks, or to seek victory through the
filthy paths of slander, is a course unfit for patriots and men of virtue
or self-respect. It is, alas, one of the sorest evils to which a democratic
form of government is liable, until men sometimes come to despair of the
existence of public virtue, public spirit, gratitude, or patriotism in the land.
In those features of Webster's character hitherto considered, we have
found that his mind and heart worked together. In his purely intellectual
traits, on the other hand, we discover an affluence of resource and power
granted to no other American born since the Declaration of Independence.
As an orator he stands confessedly at the head of the American rostrum ;
this gift alone would have given him immortality. The fame of Whitfield
rests entirely on his oratorical genius ; his published sermons show a mind
below mediocrity. But Webster's speeches read with a clearness, an ar-
gumentative force, a grasp of thought, a magnificence of style, that indicate
unusual intellectual powers. In his time Webster stood at the head of the
American Bar; as a lawyer he was the peer of Jeremiah Mason. The cases
he argued and won are among the most remarkable of the century. In his
legal arguments he exhibited a power to deal with details, and to search out
and win on the essential points of a case, while displaying great fairness in
considering both sides of the argument. His fame was secure both as an
orator and a lawyer when Destiny summoned him to display yet another
phase of his many-sided genius in the councils of the nation. We have
had many orators, many great lawyers and jurists, but very few statesmen
of the first order, or for that matter of any degree of merit ; politicians in
abundance, but rarely statesmen. Among those characters who have
achieved that high eminence, Daniel Webster occupies no second place.
DANIEL WEBSTER
32 5
In the Senate, inspired by a patriotism above party, he led as a mind well
balanced, firm, but not aggressive, thoroughly appreciating the principles
of popular government, and until his later years, discerning with unerring
clearness the future results of present measures. If at the bar he had shown
a keen ability to master details, in the Senate his power took a more
massive expression ; his eye glanced over a wider field. He dealt with
questions of public policy as Michael Angelo treated the marble out of
which he summoned his statue of Moses, with the energy and breadth of
a genius that only finds adequate expression when handling great subjects.
The mind of Webster reveled in problems of state before which the aver-
age man stood baffled. His majestic form, his eagle eye, his soaring intel-
lect, only assumed the most harmonious expression when the nation was
listening to catch its destiny from his lips.
In the Department of State, Webster showed the same breadth in deal-
ing with public questions, as well as the adroitness of the trained diplo-
matist. He could wrest a treaty from England which Lord Palmerston
declared was a disgrace to British diplomacy ; he could evade the per-
plexing difficulties suggested by a delicate point of etiquette with the
graceful facility of one who had been trained in the Machiavellian school
of St. Petersburg, while, if need required, he could shake the crown of the
Hapsburgs with dispatches. It makes one long to see him again in our
councils of State, asserting the rights of our citizens and country, before
the arrogant pretensions of foreign cabinets.
Such was Daniel Webster. What need was there to add to his regal
endowments a seat in the White House? He would have been merely one
more of a list of Presidents of exceedingly various complexion ; now he
rises before us as an orator, a lawyer, a statesman, and a patriot equalled
by few and surpassed by none this country has produced.
The problem he sought to adjust has been solved ; new problems now
confront us — problems of far deeper significance and moment than such
purely economic, hypothetical and temporary questions as protection and
free trade. We refer to the equitable adjustment of the relations of
labor and capital, and the question of controlling the swarming multitudes
who bring the ignorance, squalor, and anarchy of the old world to the new,
not sectional but national, and cast their ill-considered ballots with those
of the intelligent freemen of the West. Where is the statesman — far-see-
ing, equitable, and patriotic, not sectional but national — who shall arise
to the solution of such problems, and emulate the patriotic genius of
Daniel Webster? p ^-, /^?
HISTORICAL GROUPING
Not far from where I am now standing, a grateful city has erected a
stately monument to its soldiers and sailors who died in the late civil war.
This monument was erected about fifteen years after the war was over.
At the base from which rises its pure granite shaft, may be seen bas-reliefs
in bronze, one for each side, which depict appropriate scenes, with portraits
to recall the heroic men who bore part in them. One of these metallic
studies idealizes the departure of a Massachusetts regiment, in 1861, for
the seat of war. How often do I recall that scene, as I many times
witnessed it in impressible youth ! Most fitly, the artist's central figure is
that of our immortal war governor, John A. Andrew. But among the images
grouped about him, that of the man is absent who, next to the governor
himself, bore the chief part in organizing and dispatching our state troops,
and whose face was scarcely less familiar to our Massachusetts soldiers,
whether departing or returning. Others historically associated with such
scenes are wanting ; while among the embossed likenesses more or less
appropriate, which are here preserved for posterity, one is that of a
distinguished citizen who in 1861 was crying down war, and urging that
Southern states be permitted to secede in peace ; another likeness recalls a
son honored here indeed, years later, but who, through this whole period
of fraternal strife, resided in a far distant state and city. I do not bring up
this circumstance for reproach, but because it fitly introduces and illustrates
the point to which I wish briefly to direct your attention. My subject is
Historical Grouping, or what, perhaps, I might better style historical back-
ground. Whatever memorable scene of the past it may be the function of
historian or historical painter to recall, he should delineate with scrupulous
fidelity to truth the lesser as well as the greater surroundings; his canvas
should group those together, and only those, who were actually related to
the event and worked out in unison the great event. Two chief consider-
ations enforce this duty: (1) That in the mad zeal of our modern age for
present and future, the past is easily overlaid and obliterated ; (2) That
while Fame takes decent care of her chief hero, of the actor most respon-
sible, she easily neglects the subordinates, however indispensable their parts
might have been. " Set me down as I am," is the common appeal of
patriots of every rank to posterity and the impartial historian; and the
true relation to the event which the scholar must consider is not that of
HISTORICAL GROUPING 327
one individual, but of many, in the nicely graded proportion of foreground
and background.
The Chief Executive, the warlike commander, the great personification
of his time, him we follow with the eye ; we discuss and re-discuss his
achievements; we analyze his motives, his traits, over and over, even until
we obscure them by our own ingenuity ; we study his individual growth
from infancy up, anxious to discover in a single brain, if we may, the seed
which must have germinated in other minds and dispersed results to germi-
nate again and still more widely, before the perfect flower and perfect
opportunity could possibly have bloomed. The great nero of the age is
still, as ever, the man most responsible for what was successfully accom-
plished; yet what hero ever achieved a great success, except by happily
combining the wisdom, skill and valor of others whose ideas, whose lives
were intertwined with his own, and by bringing this whole subordinate
force to bear properly upon the occasion ? Let us look, more particularly
to the manifold influences and counter influences which work out the great
problems of an age and republican system like our own. The public
movements of American society in the present century are not accom-
plished without the combined force of elements more or less hidden from
the casual vision, which in a large degree are coequal. The scholar, the
recluse philosopher, the poet, the orator, the editor, the teacher, the legis-
lator, the statesman, gives each an impulse and direction to affairs far
greater, in normal times, than the professional warrior. Nor is it the indi-
vidual mind that sways American politics, but rather the majority or
average mind, the mind that has been brought by toilsome precept and
discipline to the point of earnest conviction. History has its leaders still ;
but the leader who unites the highest expression of thought and action
rarely appears in the modern days ; our foremost administrator is apt to
be more vigorous than original, and in this country, at least, we look no
longer for the autocrat, the warrior chief, who plans conquest and drains
his people that he may march an army whithersoever he will. A further
thought arises in this connection : namely, that the reputation once achieved
has now no sure bulwark to protect it. The sacrificial days are over.
The people observe no longer the calendar of their demi-gods. Ulysses
cannot reckon upon offices of tenderness, when he is gone, from his blame-
less Telemachus. So great and so constant becomes the pressure and
counter pressure of ideas in our modern life, that civilization seems to wear
into the solid land itself, like some turbulent torrent, washing away at one
bank and bringing down alluvium at another. The past, with its traditions
and examples, is ignored ; not that we mean to falsify, but that we are in-
;rS HISTORICAL GROUPING
different to it ; novelties absorb the present attention ; the son cavils at
the faults and limitations of the father; and in this headlong and incessant
push and jostle of men, parties and ideas, it is not enough for fame that
a man filled well the measure of his own age, if a new age requires new
measures.
Such being our present situation, in place of the few ambitious great,
we find the scope fast enlarging for the many men and their petty and
manifold ambitions. And no easier or cheaper means of gratifying a petty
ambition can be found than in clustering about the leaders who have
gained recognition and come into fashion, buzzing at their ears, and bor-
rowing somewhat of the luster and prestige of good neighborhood. Of
the deserving recipients of applause some die late, some early ; all do not
leave their papers sorted and ready for posterity to judge of their own
admitted inspiration. Here, then, is the opportunity for the parasite, the
flatterer, the eleventh-hour convert, indeed for all survivors who can grasp
the key of the situation for themselves and their friends, to work season-
ably upon the platform and into the conspicuous background, when the
artist appears : just as loiterers elsewhere insinuate themselves into a
group when they see the camera mounted. The picture is taken and
placed on exhibition for the admiration of posterity. Who are not friends,
who are not enthusiasts, when the man, the cause, has triumphed ? And
as for the artist whose handicraft was thus employed, why should he
be less susceptible to the kindness of benefactors, than the great masters
into whose immortal paintings of Saints and Martyrs, and of the Holy
Family itself, were introduced the portraits of their own patron bishops
and duchesses?
Against all this false grouping for historical effect, wherever it may be
found, this sordid commingling of souls noble and ignoble, this separation
of the acknowledged leader from the associations which combined to pro-
duce his great action, and gave him strength, dignity and sympathy at the
momentous opportunity, I invoke the justice, the scholarship and the
incorruptible honor of the historian. Let him take his impartial stand
among bygone men and events, and, so far as in him lies, reproduce the
past as it was. Let him extricate reputations from the dust of oblivion
and cunning entanglements, and award posthumous honors anew without
fear or favor. Let him observe the laws of perspective, and bring fore-
ground and background into their just and harmonious relation. Let him
distinguish scrupulously between the recognition which follows 'success
HISTORICAL GROUPING 329
and that rarer sort which precedes it in the day of personal sacrifice.
And in order to do all this, let him not trust too closely to epitaphs placed
on tombstones of the dead by the immediate survivors, nor to effigies
bronze or brazen ; for much depends upon the bias and worldly hopes of
the men who set them in position. To rescue history from the age most
dangerous because most likely to pervert its truth, and yet at the same
time, the age most plausible in its expression — that age I mean which
next succeeds the event — should command one's diligent effort. For every
epoch is best read and explained by its own light, by its own contempora-
neous record ; and every other record ought to be held but secondary and
subservient in comparison by the student who searches for the real truth
of events. This last observation may be thought a trite one : but I am well
convinced that it is at the very foundation of historical study and criticism,
such as a society like ours ought to practice and inculcate.
Cou^ji^
J cJa^tuJ^^T
[This valuable paper was read before the American Historical Association at its Boston meet-
ing, May 23, 1887. — Editor.]
TWO LETTERS OF HORATIO GREENOUGH
POETRY EMBODIED IN MARBLE
(A Fragment of History of American Art)
The recent publication of Letters of Horatio Greenqugh reminded me
that I have several letters of this distinguished American sculptor, relative
to two of his works ordered by me many years ago, and still in my posses-
sion, but which have never been known to the public as they deserved.
My order is briefly alluded to on page 121 of the volume above referred
to. These two works are believed to have been regarded by the artist
himself as among his best. The " Abdiel " is an embodiment of Milton's
lines {Paradise Lost, v. 896-907) :
"So spake the seraph Abdiel, faithful found,
Among the faithless faithful only he ;
Among innumerable false unmov'd,
Unshaken, unseduc'd, unterrify'd,
His loyalty he kept, his love, his zeal ;
. . . From amidst them forth he pass'd,
Long way through hostile scorn, which he sustain'd
Superior .
Mr. Greenough had long meditated on the subject, and desired to put
it into marble. The statue unites the expression of tender compassion
with just indignation in a very remarkable manner, recalling to me a simi-
lar blending of contrasts in Greenough's head of Satan, which I once saw
at his brother's house in Cambridge; formal beauty being, in this latter
case, blended with intense ugliness of expression. The " Abdiel " is also
remarkable for its giving no sense of littleness, though of less than life size.
The bas-relief is a happy realization of the vision which the beloved apos-
tle had of the angel of the Revelation (xxii. 8-10), whose superhuman dig-
nity prompted him to adoration, but, proving to be that of a nature like
his own (" I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets"),
changes his first feeling to pleased surprise, still touched with awe. The
TWO LETTERS OF HORATIO GREENOUGII 33 1
" Aristides" referred to in one of the letters is a fine copy, by Mr. Green-
ough, of the celebrated antique in the Museo Borbonico at Naples.
With this brief note, by way of introduction, the letters are here pre-
sented.
New Haven, August 26, 1887.
" Florence Jany 30 1838."
E. E. Salisbury Esqr —
I was much pleased by the suggestions of your letter of the — and
shall adopt them entirely in the plan of the bas-relief. I propose to give
the figures 18 inches height — the form of the bas-relief will probably be a
square. To convey the full force of the expression you desire is not easy,
and I will own to you that I fear I shall disappoint you — still I will do
my utmost.
The statue of Abdiel I have long contemplated modelling for myself.
. . If we make it less than life it cannot be larger than three feet with-
out having a dwarfish appearance. ... I have come to a point in the
exercise of my art when it is necessary that I should rather seek to perfect
a few works than to despatch" many. . . . It is impossible for me to
promise at what time this work would be completed, unless I should learn
whether the Government has chosen me to make one of the great groups
for the staircase of the Capitol. If such be the case, I should require at
least three years, as I could give only a portion of my time to the model.
With respectful regards to Mrs. Salisbury,
Believe me Dear Sir,
Yours truly,
Horatio Greenough"
" Florence April 28 1839."
E. E. Salisbury Esqr —
My dear Sir.
For answer to your inquiries respecting the actual state of the works
I have on hand for you, I have the satisfaction to inform you that the Ab-
diel is entirely out in the marble, and that it is free from stain, or vein, or
any blemish whatever, and, as there is not in any part of it a thickness of
more than ^V °f an incn over the- ultimate surface, I feel safe in assuring
332 TWO LETTERS OF HORATIO GREENOUGH
you that you will have every reason to be satisfied on that score. The
bas-relief waits only for the blocker to be free from the Abdiel to commence
that also. I hope to finish both in the course of the summer. Had I been
able to procure another rough-blocker, I should have been far advanced in
the bas-relief. You perhaps will be surprised when I tell you that the bas-
relief has cost me more time, and a greater expense of models, in short a
greater outlay, than the Abdiel — yet such is the fact. . . . Yet I have
done it willingly and cheerfully, and have twice modelled it entirely, with
a view of perfecting it as far as lay in my power. As you are the first
American gentleman who has ever ordered a bas-relief, it is but right that
you should enjoy the benefit of taking the sharp edge off my curiosity and
eagerness to sculpture one. The statue of Aristides is much admired, it is
also free from stain. . . . Accept my thanks for your delicacy in not
hurrying me in the completion of these works. Believe that I shall be un-
remitting in my attention to them, and that they will be a sample of what
I can do. Called on, as we daily are, to choose between speed and safety,
an honest name hereafter and the approval of our own conscience, or gain
and the temporary approval of our employers — it is a great comfort to be
encouraged to obey rather the dictates of the art than the suggestions of a
mere mercantile punctuality. I wish it were once well known that no man
can state how long he will be employed in embodying poetry in marble —
we should be saved much mortification, and our friends some disappoint-
ment.
I am about commencing a colossal group by order of the U. S. Gov'*,
to be placed on one of the blocks which flank the great staircase on the
east Front of the Capitol. The group is intended to commemorate the
danger of our first contact with the Aborigines, and I think is susceptible
of great dramatic interest, as of great variety of form and character and
expression. I remain Dear Sir
Your obliged Friend and Serv1
Horatio Greenough "
E. E. Salisbury Esqr
London
GENERAL STERLING PRICE
THE NEW MEXICO INSURRECTION — 1 846-47
A grand figure — probably the grandest next to Benton — in the history
of Missouri is that of General Sterling Price, who played a leading part in
the early organization of New Mexico, and became, fifteen years later, a
prominent commander in the armies of the Southern Confederacy. He
now rests beneath the soil of his dearly beloved native state, Missouri,
where his former comrades in arms — many of them the aged survivors of
two wars in which he distinguished himself — are preparing to erect a suit-
able monument to his memory.*
General Price, gentle and kind though he was, possessed a heart filled
with all the fire and ambition of a soldier, and
the zeal of a true patriot, and little to his
taste was the peaceful command of the United
States forces in the territory of New Mexico
in the summer of 1846. He had resigned his
seat in the national Congress that he might
take part in the active service of punishing
the insolent Mexicans for their insults to the
American flag and people, and the depreda-
tions committed by them on American soil.
His first ambition had been the conquest of
California, and his second to invade Chihua-
hua ; but in the former General Kearny su-
perseded him, while General Alexander W.
Doniphan, the eminent soldier-statesman of
Missouri, who has but recently been carried
to the grave, with the universal sorrow of his adopted state, had been sent
on the latter expedition ;f leaving General Price, with his Missouri volun-
teers, to guard Governor Bent's affairs in the territory of New Mexico.
Fortune, however, turned in his favor, and an insurrection in the terri-
tory afforded him and his men an opportunity to render service of value to
GENERAL STERLING PRICE.
* The writer is one of the Vice-Presidents of the Price Monument Association of Missouri.
The first year of the work of the Association has just been successfully completed.
f See sketch of General Doniphan, in Magazine of American History, vol. xiii., 187.
354 GENERAL STERLING PRICE
their country, and of great importance to the successful prosecution of the
war with Mexico. A conspiracy, headed by the Mexican Generals Oitiz,
Lafaya, Chevez, and Montoya, and supported by the leading Mexicans cf
the territory, was formed for the overthrow of the American government
at Santa Fe, and the re-instatement of Mexican authority. Their plan
was for a general uprising throughout the territory, and on December 19,
1S46, to fall upon the unsuspecting American soldiers and settlers and
massacre them, capture and put to death Governor Bent and his officers,
and organize a local government for themselves, acknowledging allegiance
only to the Mexican government. Their plans were singularly frustrated
for the time being: a Spanish mulatto servant girl overheard the leaders
in consultation, and conveyed the intelligence to General Price, who, al-
though scarcely crediting her story of so horrible a plot, sent messengers
of warning to each post of soldiers in the territory.
The conspirators remained quiet until the alarm and suspicions of the
Americans had fully subsided, and then by a bold stroke began the work of
executing their bloody plot. Governor Bent, accompanied by five of the
principal officers of the territorial government, was surprised and captured
while sojourning at Arroyo Hondo, and the entire party foully murdered
by Mexicans, on January 19, 1847 5 an^ four American traders at El Moro,
and two on the Colorado River, were brutally killed the same day.
The insurgents now hastily gathered their forces at La Canada, a point
on the Taos road about twenty miles northwest from Santa Fe, intending
to march upon and reduce the capital. The Mexican army at this point
numbered two thousand or more, and General Price, with some four hun-
dred men and a few pieces of artillery, went out to meet and engage them
in battle, which he did, with successful result. On the approach of Gen-
eral Price, the Mexican forces took a strong position on a high hill, and
the general, finding he could not dislodge them with his light artillery,
ordered Captains Wood and Augney to charge the hill with their com-
panies of Platte and Cole County volunteers, which they did most gal-
lantly, routing the enemy and winning the field for the United States
forces. A large part of the credit of this victory is given, by his contem-
poraries, to Captain J. S. Wood, of Platte County, Missouri, whose com-
pany led in the charge. General Price himself said of it : " The charge at
La Canada was one of the most gallant achievements in the Mexican war."
This first battle virtually decided the fate of the insurrection ; several
unimportant engagements were fought after this — the Americans being
easily successful on every occasion — until the storming and capture of Fort
Pueblo de Taos, where the greater part of the insurgent forces had taken
GENERAL STERLING PRICE 335
refuge, ended the short but sanguinary war„ During the assault upon this
strong fortification, the brave Missourians cut their way through the adobe
walls of the fort with crow-bars, axes, and picks, and killed or made pris-
oners the entire garrison. The fort was admirably constructed for defense,
especially against the Indians, who were fierce and warlike in that locality,
and was claimed at the time of this battle to be more than a hundred
years old. Inside the enclosure was a cathedral, one wall of which, for the
first story, was formed by a part of one of the walls of the fort. Entrance
to the fort was effected by the soldiers of General Price by cutting through
the outer wall into the cathedral, whence an easy passage was gained to
the court-yard and into the citadel. At an early stage of the attack, Cap-
tain Burgwin, a brave American officer, with a handful of his men, scaled
the wall into the fort by means of rope ladders, but were fiercely attacked
and driven back ; the men all escaped, some of them severely wounded, but
the daring captain was instantly killed inside the fort, and his body was
not recovered until after the capitulation of the Mexican garrison.
On the evening of February 4, 1847, the Mexicans surrendered the fort
and its occupants, and gave up their leaders to be prosecuted for the mur-
der of Governor Bent and the other territorial officers. The New Mexican
insurrection was now at an end, and several of the leaders were tried by
the civil courts at Santa Fe, convicted, sentenced, and hanged for the
murders in which they had participated. The total losses of the insur-
gents, in all engagements, were two hundred and eighty-two killed, and
about fifteen hundred prisoners ; while the loss to General Price's forces
was fifteen killed and forty-seven wounded. The number of Mexicans and
Indians wounded has never been ascertained.
General Price returned to Santa Fe after the reduction of Taos, and
resumed the civil and military government of the territory, and continued
to exercise it undisturbed, except by the numerous depredations of bands
of Mexican and Indian thieves, until the close of the war with Mexico.
He assisted in formulating the territorial laws, and by his uniform kindness
and justice pacified the larger portion of the native population, placed the
American colonization of the country on a firm footing, leaving the terri-
tory in the prosperous condition it has ever since maintained.
Kingston, Missouri.
THE FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH
BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
May, 1886, the edifice of the First Reformed Dutch Church
standing on Joralemon Street, in the rear of the City Hall,
Brooklyn, was demolished. Thus disappeared an interesting
historical link which connected the present with the earliest
history of Dutch churches on Long Island.
In a paper prepared in 1834 by General Jeremiah
f& Johnson, to place under the corner-stone of this struct-
ure, it was said : " From tradition we learn that a place for divine worship
was prepared before the first church was built, in the stone foundation of
a fort which had been erected to protect the earlier settlers against the
Indians." In 1654 Rev. Johannes Theodorus Polhemus came from Itha-
marca, in Brazil, where he had been laboring as a missionary, and became
the pastor of the churches in Brooklyn, Flatbush, and Flatlands. The
Brooklyn people, however, were not satisfied with this arrangement, and
in 1658 requested from the Classis of Amsterdam a good Dutch preacher.
Accordingly, Rev. Henricus Selyns was sent to them. On his arrival in
the summer of 1660, Governor Stuyvesant deputied Nicasius de Sille and
Martin Cregier to introduce him to his congregation.
Honorable Dearly Beloved — This short and open letter serves only as an introduc-
tion to the bearer, the Rev Dr Henricus Selyns, by the Government of Amsterdam at
your request he having accepted the calling of the preacher and all other duties depending
thereon in the village of Breukelen. We recommend you to receive him affectionately,
and keep in respect, honor, and love ; to attend with diligence the services he will con-
duct ; to procure him according to your promise decent and comfortable lodgings, so as
to honor God in His service, and prepare you more and more for eternal happiness, for
which God alone will grant His blessing. I close in recommending you one and all in
Gods care and protection and remain
Your well wishing friend & Governor P Stuyvesant
THE FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH 337
Dominic Selyns then read a testimonial from the clergymen of Amster-
dam, and preached his inaugural sermon. The church had twenty mem-
bers, inclusive of one elder and two deacons. They had as yet, however,
no church edifice. Dominie Selyns, in his letter to the Classis of New
Amsterdam, dated October 4, 1660, says: " We do not preach in a church,
but in a barn." The building of a place of worship, however, must have
followed soon after this. The next season Dominie Selyns married a
beautiful and gifted young woman in New Amsterdam, whose portrait he
has handed down to posterity in a charming little birthday ode. The
church is described as a large, square edifice, with solid and very thick
walls, plastered and whitewashed on every side up to the eaves. The roof
ascended to a peak in the center and was capped with an open belfry.
The windows were small, and placed six feet from the floor. They con-
tained stained glass brought from Holland, representing vines loaded with
flowers. The interior of the building was thus rendered so dark that it was
impossible to see to read in it after 4 P. M. The two Labadist travelers
who visited Long Island in 1679 speak in their journal of this church as
"a small and ugly little church standing in the middle of the road."
Dominie Selyns returned to Holland at the expiration of his engage-
ment, and Charles Debevoise, the village schoolmaster, read prayer and a
sermon from some approved author for a time. Rev. Mr. William Nieawen-
hausen then supplied the pulpit for a year. Rev. Casparus Van Zuven was
called 1677, and returned to Holland 1685. Rev. Randolphus Van Varick
served from 1685 to 1694. He, with other ministers, suffered severe per-
secutions during the Leislerian troubles in 1689. They defied the author-
ity of Leisler and were dragged from their homes, cast into jail, and heavily
fined. These severities are said to have hastened Dominie Varick's death.
Rev. Wilhelm Lupardus succeeded him in 1702. After this came two con-
tending pastors, Rev. Bernardus Freeman and Rev. Johannes Arondeus,
from Rotterdam. In 1746 Rev. Ulpianus Van Sideren was called, and
served the church until 1784; his colleague was Rev. Antoneus Curtenius.
In 1757 Rev. Casparus Rubell, of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, was called to
preside over all the churches in Kings county. Dominies Rubell and Van
Sideren served to the close of the Revolutionary war; the former was a
loyalist, while the latter was a whig, so that their intercourse was anything
but agreeable. Rev. Martinus Schoonmaker was called to the churches
at Harlem and Gravesend in 1763, and during the Revolutionary war
preached for the Collegiate churches in Kings county. He was suspected
by the British as a spy, and an attempt was made to capture him, but he
was warned by the consistory and escaped. When the British took Har-
Vol. XVIII.— No. 4.-23
33S THE FIRST REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH
iem his house, with all his effects, were burned. After the close of the
war he was called to the six churches in Kings county, having for his col-
league Rev. Peter Lowe. He officiated in the Dutch language, and Mr.
Lowe in English.
Dominie Schoonmaker died May 24, 1824, aged eighty-seven years, and
with his death the official use of the Dutch language in the pulpits of the
Dutch Reformed churches of Kings county ceased.
On June 28, 1 805, the ground was purchased on which the recent
church stood, and in 1807 the third church edifice was erected. It was
built of blue stone, with heavy walls painted a dark lead color, it had a
tower in the eastern front, and stood near the road. Galleries were on three
sides, but the building had very limited accommodations. The people
came largely from the country, and are described as driving to church in
long green wagons. A chapel was built in Middagh street in 181 1, to
accommodate the inhabitants of the village. In 1834 the corner-stone
of the fourth church was laid by Abraham A. Remsen, senior elder. Ad-
dresses were made by Rev. Maurice W. Dwight, pastor, and Rev. Thomas
De Witt, D.D., of the Collegiate Church, New York. The edifice was
dedicated May 5, 1835.
Rev. John B. Johnson, of Albany, became the pastor of the church in
1801;. While stationed at Albany he was selected to preach the funeral
sermon of General Washington, on February 22, 1800. Succeeding pastors
and the dates of their coming are : Rev. Selah S. Woodhull, 1806; Rev.
Ebenezer Mason, June, 1826; Rev. Peter B. Rouse, October 13, 1828;
Rev. Maurice W. Dwight, grandson of President Edwards, of Northamp-
ton, Mass., May 26, 1833 5 R-ev- Anson P. Van Giesen, Nov. 1, 1855 ; Rev.
Alphonso A. Willets, June, i860; Rev. Jos. Kimball, Nov. 21, 1865 ; Rev.
Henry R. Dickson, Oct. 28, 1875 ; Rev. David N. Vanderveer, D.D., Sept.
15, 1878.
Among a number of historical relics possessed by the first church
society are two silver cups with the following inscription :
Anno 1684, den 3 October
heeft Maria' Baddia aen de Kerke
Van Bruekelen Lervert een
Zilvert beecker om het
Aboutmael mjt Te Delen.
MINOR TOPICS
AN EXTRAORDINARY INDIAN TOWN
Editor of the Magazine of American History :
The student of American colonial history finds many a difficulty which he can-
not resolve. At one time there are conflicting statements of authors, and the nov-
ice is unable to decide which is right. Anachronisms crop out of which no ac-
count is taken, and how shall he determine the truth when modern collators agree
in the incidents ? The time is changed, or the agents do not cooperate, and there is
a reasonable doubt if the original record is not apocryphal and the writer " a fraud."
Such thoughts arise on reading a " Journey to the Cherokee Mountains,"
recorded in The Natural History of North Carolina, by John Brickell, M.D.,
Dublin, 1737. He says: " The latter end of February, Anno Domini 1730, we
set out on our intended journey, being in number ten white men and two Indians,
for our huntsmen and interpreters." They took the usual outfit of horses, imple-
ments, and provisions. "They met with no human specie all the way," or incident
worthy of record, except " sleeping on beds of moss under the shade of a tree,
near the fire," till fifteen days out, at six o'clock, they discovered a large party of
Iroquois Indians, in a town with a State-House, war-captains, and councilors.
"The King asked him how his brother (the governor) did ? " They lodged two
days in one of the King's houses, near the centre of the town, and on benches
covered with skins. The rest of the buildings were in a confused order — no reg-
ular streets nor shops, or even handycraft trade among them. There was a great
number of men and women "and boys and girls stark-naked." Brickell "asked
of the King to see his Quiogozon or Charnel House. It was the largest one we
ever beheld. " They traveled four days further west, over two ridges of mountains,
and saw one Indian, who fled, and "in thirty-two days arrived among Christians."
There is no place of departure or destination given ; no notice of the origin or pur-
pose of the expedition ; no responsibility or report to any public authority or
appointing power — solely a private enterprise, with no valuable results.
How vastly superior in all particulars were the bold marches of Lederer into
the same regions. Yet this expedition stands forth as an important event in the
early history of the Province, and is thus noticed by Governor Martin in his His-
tory of North Carolina" vol. ii., pp. 1-8. " Dr. John Brickell was sent by Gov-
ernor Burrington to the Western Indians, and set off from Edenton the latter part
of February, 1731, with ten white men and two Indians." He tells the story of
the journey as recorded by Brickell, and their return, and " in thirty-two days
reached the settlements of white people." This record is accepted and fully
34° MINOR TOPICS
indorsed in the recently published, comprehensive, and exhaustive "Narrative
and Critical History of America, vol. V., chap, v., p. 301, by Professor Wm. I.
Rivers," as conferring especial distinction on the times. He says : " One service,
however, he (Governor Burrington) rendered, in conciliating the Indians on the
Western border. To this end he sent Dr. John Brickell with a party of ten men,
and two Indians to assist them. The account (Brickell's) of the expedition adds
to our knowledge of the condition of that remote section of the province as the
interesting work of Lawson (I.) does with respect to other sections."
The amount of "conciliation of the Indians," and of "increased knowledge
of the country," appears in the record, and is very meagre. By a collation of
dates we will assume that Brickell set out the 25th of February, 1730. The out-
ward journey occupied twenty-one days, and the return thirty-two days — the sum,
fifty-three days, extending to April 18, 1730. We are sure in regard to the year,
as he says, p. 108 : "There were two Buffalo calves taken in the year 1730 by
some of the planters on the New river ; whether transported to Europe or not, I
know not, as I left the country very soon after." New River is a small stream in
Onslow County, on the coast, where the presence of an historical buffalo is not
known. It is well, also, to note the dates given by Governor Martin, vol. II., p. 1.
Burrington was appointed governor in England, April 29, 1730. He reached
North Carolina in the middle of February, 1731; qualified as governor February
25, 1 731, which was the earliest date he could issue a commission ; called the legis-
lature to meet April 13, 1 73 1, and needed authority from it to do such an act.
It seems, then, Brickell had accomplished his journey eleven days (between the
1 8th and 29th of April, 1730), before the governor was appointed in England, near
ten months before he arrived in North Carolina; and, more, Brickell left the coun-
try the year before the governor came.
We look in vain for proof that these two dignitaries had any official relations,
were in North Carolina together, or that they ever met or heard of each other.
The records of Governor Burrington's administration of some three years con-
tain no mention of Brickell or his expedition, or they would have been quoted by
Martin or Rivers. On the contrary, the evidence of the only competent wit-
ness, Brickell, proves an alibi for himself, and an absolute negative in each partic-
ular. It seems difficult to account for the confused statements of Governor Mar-
tin, and, more so, for their adoption by Professor Rivers. If the latter has ever
carefully read and compared Lawson and Brickell, we cannot account for his lit-
erary judgment in placing them so nearly on a level. Other American writers have
done the same, and it is not too much to say that Brickell has been a stumbling-
block to historians for just one hundred and fifty years.
Now that Professor Rivers, most conspicuously of all, stands forth as his cham-
pion, he has indirectly become responsible for the existence of this permanent and
populous town of Iroquois, some five hundred miles from their native seat, in 1730 !
The " Sinnegars," or Senecas, were known in these parts, before the treaty of 1751,
MINOR TOPICS 34 r
only when on the warpath against the Catawbas, Saponas, and other southern tribes,
or stimulating the Tuscaroras, as in 1711, to indiscriminate murder of the whites.
We find no mention by any one of the numerous writers on the Six Nations of
such a distant migration and peaceful residence of a large town of the Iroquois, at
this or any other period of their history. Oliver P. Hubbard
New York, September 9, 1887.
HARVEY BIRCH NOT ENOCH CROSBY
Editor of Magazine of American History :
A letter from Mr. James E. Deane, in your July issue, taking exception to my
calling attention to Miss Cooper's complete demolition of the myth that Enoch
Crosby was the original of her father's great creation, " Harvey Birch," published
in the Atlantic for February, 1887, requires only a word or two. It seems Mr.
Deane is the publisher of a new edition of Barnum's Spy Unmasked, in which
this Crosby myth was first produced, in 1828, seven years after the publication of
The Spy of Cooper, and which, he states, " has unfortunately drawn this fire
of adverse criticism," meaning my comments in the May Magazine of Ainerican
History. Mr Deane is mistaken, for not till after my article was published did I
know of the existence of his reprint, which, he says, is " probably the only edition
printed within the past fifty years." Mr. Deane is evidently not aware of the fact
that five editions of the book have been printed, the last of which was issued in
New York in 1864. I think a sixth edition was also published in Philadelphia,
but of this I am not certain. I have, since Mr. Deane's reply to my article, ob-
tained and examined a copy of his reprint, and find that he has " followed copy "
truly, giving Barnum's unfortunate " conclusion " in full, for which he deserves
credit. It is evident from the reprint that Mr. Deane religiously believes that
Enoch Crosby was " Harvey Birch," and that Mr. Cooper merely described his
adventures and actions during the Revolution in The Spy. Hence he republished the
Barnum book with additions, and a genealogy of the Crosby family, by William
S. Pelletreau, to perpetuate the glory of Crosby. This genealogy, it seems, was
also published by Mr. Pelletreau himself in the April number, 1877, of the New
York Genealogical and Biographical Record, in which he says " that Crosby was
the hero" (of The Spy) " admits of no doubt." Miss Cooper however, expressly
says, and her information came from her father, that "every incident in the book,"
except what was stated by John Jay, "was invented by Mr. Cooper."
If my brief article has served to call attention to Mr. Deane's reprint I have
no objection, but it also has called attention to Miss Cooper's irrefragable evidence
of its worthlessness as truth. Crosby was simply one of many spies employed at
the same time, did his duty, and was paid for it, and that is all. Neither he him-
self, nor Barnum, nor Mr. Deane, nor Mr. Pelletreau say, or dare to claim, that
Enoch Crosby refused gold for his services from John Jay.
Guy Hatfield, of Scarsdale.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Memorandum of the Route pursued by Colonel Campbell and his column of invasion,
in 1779, from Savannah to Augusta ; with a Narrative of occurrences connected
with his march, and a record of some of the military events which transpired in
that portion of the Province of Georgia during the War of the Revolution.
[From the original Manuscript in the Abertaff collection.]
Annotated by Colonel Charles C. fones, Jr., LL.D.
Augusta, Georgia.
^Continued from page 258.]
The Town of Ebenezer * is settled by Germans and contains 20 odd houses.
There was a kind of a silk manufactory established here, but it never arrived to
any great perfection.
From Ebenezer to Trytlands,f or the Two Sisters, I is 10 miles. After passing
* " Col° Campbell with the troops under his command arrived from Cherokee hill at Ebenezer
the 3d of Jany without any oposition or difficulty, except that of repairing the Bridge upon the
Creek that covers one flank of the town. There was at that time a post established here, and
some works thrown up. A quantity of provisions, ammunition, some Artillery and small Arms
were ordered to be, with all possible expedition, brought from Savannah to this place to supply as
well such troops as might be stationed here, as others that might proceed into the upper part of
the Province, or to furnish some Companies of Militia with such of these Articles as they were in
need of, if they were thought deserving of that encouragement and Confidence.
In the months of March and April this post was made very strong with additional Redoubts
and Artillery, for it was always considered that it ought to be made one of the principal posts be-
cause a Chain of Communication across the Country and the Ogeechee river might have its right
flank well fixt and secure at Ebenezer, while its left might extend to and be covered by the Garri-
son of Sunbury.
These posts it was suposed would secure the lower part of the Province and protect its Inhabi-
tants against the Incursions of plundering partys sent by the Rebels from the upper Country or
from South Carolina. The two Creeks and swamps that cover f of the circumference of this post
have made it naturally very strong, and whatever was thought necessary to be added from Art, the
Engineers executed before the troops crost to Carolina, for it was not intended to maintain any
posts higher up the Country while the province continued in its present State. The troops that
lay here during the Summer were very sickly, and upon that account the place is since said to be
unhealthy in that time of year."
f The home of John Adam Treutlen, a patriot and a man of mark, who was elected the first
Republican Governor of Georgia.
\ " This post was established the 4th of January. Two bridges in the Swamp leading to the
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 343
the Creek, which you cross upon quiting Ebenezer, you come to a few good Plan-
tations that extend from the right of the road almost to the river-side. They
yield both Corn and rice, and have plenty of pasture for cattle. The Bank of the
river here at Trytland's is higher upon this side than the other, and the ferry,
(which is sometimes used), a little above its house, is very difficult to be got to, in
the same manner as that at Zubilee's.
From the Two Sisters to Tuccasse King is * 3 miles. This last plantation lies
high in comparison to the Ground that we have just travelled over. The present
possessor has but a scanty livelihood if his Stock of Cattle does not turn out to
good account. A Run of water that washes the bottom of a Gulley which seperates
the rising Ground that this farm house stands upon from a higher hill of deep sandy
ascent, makes this situation more convenient. There is no scarcity of Cattle or
hogs, and great plenty of venison in this district.
From Tuccassee-King to Hudson's f house and ferry is 10 miles. The road,
after ascending the steep sandy hill above mentioned, is very good and easy.
The bank of the river on this side is high and steep, almost parallel to the Main
road, and nowhere above 2 miles distant from it.
Mount-pleasant, Killicrankee, &ca, upon the right hand are well improved
Plantations valuable for their produce, and immediate Communication with the
river. This Stage has few swamps near the road, and the woody part is an open
firm pine-barren that may be easily galloped thro'.
ferry were ordered to be destroyed. The Rebels from behind a small breastwork fired across the
river upon the party that was sent upon this service. They likewise sent some patroles to the bank
oposite to the house. Trytland l was lately a Tavern-keeper, but to be a Col0 (, which he is now), in
the rebel service, he has deserted a very profitable Plantation an d a good dwelling house at this place. "
* "A party of Mounted Militia from a company formed here, the 4th of January, was instructed
by Col0 Campbell to patrole in this neighbourhood untill the The King's troops moved up the coun-
try. For the present the highest post that they were to occupy was that at the Sisters. The Colo
returned to Savannah to meet Gen1 Prevost who was expected there with the troops from Sl Au-
gustine.
In the Month of April it was proposed to try some means of attacking the Rebels under Gen-
eral Lincoln, or forcing them to retire from the Savannah into the interior parts of S. Carolina.
Their Head-quarters were then at Purisburg, and detached posts oposite to the Sisters, to Hudson's
Ferry &ca. About two miles above Tuccassee King and oposite to Parachocola swamp was the
place where it was intended to cross the River for the above purpose. Some of our Corps were
then at Hudson's and the Old Court House. Carriages were prepared to transport some Flat-boats
and Canoes by land from Ebenezer, but tho' it was imagined that this intended Scheme was kept
very secret, yet it is more than probable that Gen1 Lincoln was informed of it ; for, previous to any
orders being given to draw in and collect our most distant Troops, Lincoln moved with the main
part of his force to the Neighbourhood of Parachocola Swamp, which effectually made the Idea of
crossing at that place be laid aside. When the Troops marched up the Country there was a post
always kept at Tuccassee-King."
f " The 26th of Janv Col0 Campbell, with the Corps under his immediate command destined for
Augusta, arrived at Hudson's and, after fixing upon a Detachment to remain there, he marched early
1 John Adam Treutlen ,
344 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Hudson's house is upon a high, healthy, open situation, and close to the bank
of the river, which overlooks a field and swampy wood upon the Carolina side.
The Flat used at the ferry was stationed a little above the house. To quit this
Ground you descend gradually an easy piece of road, cross a run of water that
once kept a mill agoing, and then raise a hill that is steep for Carriages and diffi-
cult to be forced if disputed by an enemy.
At 2? miles from Hudson's the road forks ; — the one to the right leading to
the low or old bridge upon Briar Creek is call'd the river or lower road, and
the other to Paris's bridge * &ca the upper or back road. From the fork to Mill
Creek (7 miles) the road cannot be called bad, though more unequal and rough
than what we have hitherto past over. The wood is open, and except two spots
where water lodges upon the road, carriages may go on without much difficulty
or interruption.
About 200 yards before you get to Mill Creek there is a clear spot that the road
leads thro'. \ The ground to the right rises gradually thro' an open pine-barren
till you get in sight of the Savannah. The left is bordered by a Swamp. In
advancing to the Creek the Ground slopes gently before. The thicket upon the
left hand is very close and swampy. The wood upon the right is open and easy.
The Creek has commonly but little Water, and is fordable almost every where
above and below the Mill-dam.
From this place to the beginning of the causeway that carries you to the bridge,
you pass in a Pine-barren thro' an ugly swamp that covers a piece of the road with
water. The Causeway is more than 800 yards long, with a deep swamp imme-
diately upon each side. The quantity of water that is constantly here made it
necessary for the preservation of the Causeway to open a passage across the road
over which a bridge is made which you pass before you get to the Main bridge
upon the Creek, which you no sooner pass than you get 'to a farm with a few out-
houses. About two miles from thence there is a ferrying place upon the Savan-
nah. When there is a boat or a flat here, it is kept at Matthews's bluff on the
Carolina side. After passing by two small plantations,! you come, (at 4 miles from
the 27th with the light Infantry, Ist Battn 71st, N. York Volunteers, some Mounted Carolinians and
Rangers, — the whole about 900 men. It was from this post that our troops under the orders of
Col0 Provost march'd the 2d of March to surprise the Rebels at Briar Creek. Hudson's house was
surrounded with a stockade, and was kept possession of untill the Army crost into Carolina."
* Mill-Haven.
f " When Col0 Prevost marchd from Hudson's to surprise the Rebels at P>riar Creek, the 1st
Battn 71st, with 2 field pieces, was ordered to this place to cover and mask the movement of the
Corps that made the Circuit to get into the Enemy's rear, but it can by no means be thought a
strong post, especially for an inconsiderable force, because any enemy may turn either or both
flanks and attack them and the rear at the same time."
\ " The surprise at Briar Creek was so compleat that the first notice the Rebels had of the ap-
proach of an enemy was when the Light Infantry fired upon and drove in their picquets at one of
tho:,e plantations about I mile and \ from the Bridge. In the pannic and Consternation that they
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 345
the Bridge), to Conners's. Before you can discover the house you pass thro* some
swamp-water and a sandy, woody ridge that crosses the road at Right Angles and
extends in that direction for some hundreds of yards. This is the strongest piece
of Ground that fronts you from the lower bridge till after you pass Mobile's Pond.*
From Conners's you pass by Green's and Roberts's to Herberts — miles off. Bur-
ton's ferry is — miles from the road. In seting out from Herbert's you pass a
small run of water, and then rise a gradual, tho' sandy ascent to get into a level,
good road for about 5 miles, which carrys you to Mobile's Pond, — a good, exten-
sive plantation, clear and open, upon the right of the road for a considerable
extent, though a close wood lines the left. A cross road from the upper or back
one falls in here. It is not much frequented by wheel Carriages.
From Mobile's to Widow Gryner's the Road is deep with sand, and in some
places broken and uneven.
From Widow Gryner's to Tellfare's f Saw-mills and house (10 miles) the road
is difficult for Carriages. There is one deep Gulley that could not be forced in
front if well defended. The run of water is here deep and the hills upon each
side are so steep and rugged that the road is necessarily made to slant and wind
to be passable for Carriages.
From Tellfare's house to Boggy Gutt J ( miles) the road is not very good and
were seized with, they ran into the Swamps, Creek, and river, each man as his heels could carry
him. But the greater number escaped to our left ; and, under cover of the night, with the help of
a Boat, a few Canoes, and Rafts, they crossed to Carolina. Most of their horse-men got up the
Country, pas& by Lambert's without halting or drawing bridle. Had our Troops arrived so as to
be able to begin the Attack earlier than between 4 and 5 o'clock, few of the Rebels could have
escaped. As it was, the attack was so sudden and unexpected that they attempted to make little
or no resistance." For a description of this unfortunate affair in the fork of Briar Creek and the
Savannah river, see Jones' History of Georgia, Vol. II. pp. 347-352. Boston, 1883.
* Mobly's Pond.
f Edward Telfair, a prominent merchant and planter, and subsequently a Governor of Georgia.
if ' ' It was by this road that Colo Campbell returned to Hudson's on his way back from Augusta.
The Ferry at Odam's is crost in a Flat. However, for the greater expedition, we made a wooden
bridge a little below the ferry. The 18th the whole crost and marched to Lamberts (10 miles off).
Colo Campbell once intended to establish a Post where Odam's house stands — a high Ground
overlooking the ferry and Creek and the Swamp, tho' which the road to Lambert's leads.
Col° Campbell was informed at Boggy-Gutt that a Corps of the Rebels under Brigadier Elbert 1
lay at MacBean's Creek to dispute that pass, but knowing that the Creek was to be passed farther
up the Country, the Light Infantry with their field pieces were ordei-ed to march in the night to
get into the enemy's rear, while the other Corps advanced to attack them in Front. The Scheme
would probably have succeeded, had not Elbert been acquainted of it by the treachery of a man
who was too much confided in. The Rebels retired precipitately and left their Provisions upon
their Ground, as they were divided into Messes. In the evening of the 30th Janry, when our
1 Colonel Samuel Elbert who, under orders from General Lincoln, had advanced to the assist-
ance of the detachments under Colonel Twiggs and the Colonels Few, while disputing, was not
strong enough to prevent Colonel Campbell's crossing. Aid was expected from Colonel Andrew
Williamson and Colonel Elijah Clarke, but it did not arrive in season.
346 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
there is a scarcity of Forrage. Gerard's ferry upon the Savannah is crost in this
Stage, and the road to Odam's ferry forks from it. The Ground upon this side of
the Creek at Henderson's is much higher than upon the other. After passing the
water that runs from the Dams upon this Gutt about ^ a mile, the remainder of
the Road to MacBean's Creek (6 miles distant) is firm and easy.
The Pass at MacBean's Creek has a very high steep hill upon this side, and
tho' the Crown and face of the hill is thinly covered with trees, the bottom and
both sides of the road are very woody, close, and swampy. The road, tho' made
pretty easy and slanting on the face of the hill, a fall of rain would soon cut it up
and destroy it for Carriages. Near the foot of the hill it turns quick to the left
thro' a thicket and Swamp, and there takes a serpentine form, which prevents
people, even upon the highest Ground, from seeing the passage of the Creek and
the road or ground immediately upon the oposite side. Cannon therefore, would
avail little in forcing this pass, but a handful of men could defend it against a con-
siderable force coming in front from the oposite side.
From this Creek to Spirit Creek (6 miles) the road is not bad, tho' uneven, and
a little hilly. The wood upon each side is open and free of brush. Tho' the run
of water that comes from the Mill Dams upon Spirit Creek is pretty considerable,
yet it is to be forded in different places in a good dry Season.
From Spirit Creek to Augusta (12 miles) the road is in general rather good than
bad, tho' in some places water lays upon it and in wet Weather it must be deep and
troublesome for Wheel Carriages. There are 3 inconsiderable bridges across some
deep water which deep and extensive Swamps discharge. There is particularly
one pass call'd the Coubert,* where the road is made thro' a close, woody, and im-
passable Swamp 10J miles from Henderson's, (at Spirit Creek).
troops arrived at Spirit Creek, the Rebels were upon the oposite side and began to fire upon Us
from behind houses and other defences, but upon our firing a few Canon Shots, and throwing two
Shells from a 4 \ inch Howitzer, they all took to their heels, some by the main road, others ran by
a path thro' the Swamp towards the river in order to cross it at
As the Sun was now down, the troops could do no more than take up their Ground and place
the necessary Guards.
Henderson's house here is within a kind of wooden or Stockaded Fort which was erected as a
security and Defence against the Indians. Col0 Campbell ordered some repairs to be made to it ;
and, a few days after, a party was stationed there, and a Corn Mill was employed there for the
benefit of the Troops."
* This is a very ugly pass to be forced by the main road. The Swamp is so deep, woody, and
close that it cannot be penetrated, and in approaching it the wood is so close to the road that it
affords cover and shelter to a skillful enemy, and it will be hazardous for troops unacquainted with
it to attempt a pursuit. Before we got near it Mr Manson was brought from a Plantation upon the
right of the road. He, with a great deal of pretended friendship, informed us that 300 Riflemen
had crost the Savannah the night before to join 400 men to lay in Ambush in the Coubert, (or
Cupboard), and attack Us upon our March. He told this with so much seeming Confidence that
Col0 Campbell halted, rested the Troops, and then ordered the Light Infantry, Light Dragoons, a
Detachment of the 71st, and some others under Colo Maitland, to head the Swamp and by that cir-
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 347
Upon coming near Augusta, different roads lead to the town and enter it
at as many places. Within some miles of the Town there are three or 4 Mills and
plenty of Indian Corn. The upper Country yields plenty of Wheat, and several
Inhabitants distill Whisky from Wheat, &ca, which will, upon a pinch and an emer-
gency, satisfy a Soldier in place of rum.
cuit to endeavor to get into the enemy's rear and cut them off. The rest of the troops were to re-
main where they halted untill it was suposed that the other Corps had got round. But in the mean
time sonae Inhabitants came in to us who undeceived us, and assured us that there was not an
enemy upon the road before Us, and that the rear of the Rebels were crossing with some Stores,
&ca, from Augusta. We found this to be the case, and that Mr Manson was at best a dubious
Character. Upon our Arrival in Augusta we found but a few families, and some of these had but
the female part at home. However, a few days after a considerable number of the Country peo-
ple came in to give up their arms, and take the Oath of allegiance. They readily agreed to form
Militia Companies in different Districts, and to keep a guard at various Stations. Officers, (men
the most agreeable to the generality of the Inhabitants), were appointed over them for that pur-
pose, but they could not be brought to any regularity : therefore no real, substantial Services from
them could be depended upon, or for some time looked for, but by people of too sanguine Expec-
tations who would not consider that they were mostly Crackers whose promises are often like their
Boasts. However, some from Wrightsborough and the upper Country supplied our Commissary
with flower, and others were preparing to distill Whiskey to supply the Want of rum. A Magazin
was formed, oven built, and every Step taken to have a well-regulated and well-supplied Garrison
established here. Emmissarys were sent into the back Settlements of the Carolinas. An Indian
Chief and Warrior, who came from his Nation to receive and give a Talk, was loaded with pres-
ents and sent back satisfied. The Rebels under Gen1 Williamson were encamped upon a Ridge in
the Wood upon the oposite side of the River. Some Flats were made to enable Us to get at them,
for their Piquets and Patroles came often to the bank of the river, and sometimes fired across.
About this time a detached Corps from Lincoln's Army arrived at and encamped near Moore's
bluff. Their light troops occupied some intermediate passes on the Way to Williamson's Camp,
and Intelligence was brought that his Corps was considerably augmented, and that they meant to
cross above and below Augusta in order to hem our Detachm*, if they could, into very small
bounds. When the Militia was now ordered to strengthen the posts that were allotted them at
the different crossing places along the River, it was plainly seen that they could not be depended
upon if their assistance was seriously wanted. They could not be got to turn out or assemble.
Accts were at the same time received from below of Apprehensions there that Lincoln would cross
and take post so as to interrupt or cut off, if possible, our Communication with our posts in that
part. It was thought improper to occupy posts so distant as to be liable to such disagreeable Cir-
cumstances, and for these reasons Col° Campbell resolved to march back to Hudson's. He accord-
ingly marched the night of the 14th Febry, and went by Boggy Gutt, Odham's Ferry, Lambert's,
and the Beaver Dams, &ca.
Most of the Settlements (along both the Roads) from Ebenezer to Augusta, are in a ruinous,
neglected State : two-thirds of them deserted, some of their Owners following the Kings troops,
others with the Rebels, and both revengefully destroying the property of each other.1
1 " The rage between Whig and Tory," says General Moultrie, "ran so high that what was
called a Georgia parole, and to be Shot down, were synonymous." So stringent too, were the restric-
tions upon trade, such was the depreciation of the paper currency, so sadly interrupted were all
agricultural and commercial adventures, and so violent was the hatred existing between the " Sons
of Liberty " and the adherents to the Crown, that poverty, distress, arson, and murder were the com-
mon heritage.
54^ ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
After passing Herbert's the feature of the Country becomes more rough, un-
even, and present a more northerly aspect than the lower parts of the Province
which produce chiefly Rice and Indigo. Every Plantation is well-stocked with
Cattle, and there are some Pens that have more than 8000 Head.*
The upper or back road from the Forks near Hudson's is easier and better for
Carriages than the River Road, but does not afford so much Forrage. There are
several cross roads that branch off from the former, and communicate with the lat-
ter. That by Paris's bridge falls into the other at Mobile's Pond and near Her-
bert's. That which Forks at old Cato's and goes by Odam's ferry enters the other
near Gerard's ferry and by Boggy Gutt. That from the New Bridge joins at
McBean's Creek. Besides these principal Roads, upon which Wheel-Cairiages may
travel, there are bye-roads and paths that can be shown by persons who have re-
sided for any time in that part of the Province, and though those several Creeks
are in most places deep and troublesome to pass, the country-people are dex-
terous at making small Rafts of Rails, Sapplings, &ca. Upon these they transport
their baggage, Saddles, Arms, &ca} and swim their horses along side. Many of the
Rebels saved themselves in this manner after the Defeat at Briar Creek."
* This estimate is manifestly extravagant.
NOTES
349
Authors a hundred years ago —
While delving among the treasures of
the office of the Secretary of State, at
Trenton, New Jersey, not long since, I
found the following curious entry on
page 186, Liber AB of Commissions.
It is only one of many of a like character
which may be found in the same book :
" Persuant to an Act of the Legisla-
ture the following Gentlemen have Reg-
istered their names as Authors.
Noah Webster, Jr. Esq. Author of a
Grammatical Substitute of the English
Language in three parts, also an Abridge-
ment of the first part of the Grammati-
cal Institute, also Lectures Critical and
Practical on the English Language.
The Revd. Timothy D wight, author
of the Conquest of Canaan, a Poem in
Nine Books.
Mr. Joel Barlow, author of the Vision
of Columbus, a Poem in Nine Books;
also author of a Pamphlet entitled a
Translation of sundry Psalms omitted
by Dr. Watts to which is added a num-
ber of New Hymns.
Bowes Reed,
Secretary."
The date of this record is March 28,
1786. Geo. P. Morris
Montclair, N. J.
NOTES
without any authority from him. " I see
you have changed my title," said Gen-
eral Wallace ; " and you have written
an entirely new preface and signed my
name to it." The publisher hesitated,
and at last stammered forth that they
had thought they could improve on it.
"And have you taken any other liberties
with my book ? " pursued General Wal-
lace, and Mr. Warne answered that they
had left out the story of " Ben Hur," ajid
made a few minor changes. And the
British publisher who made this confes-
sion has never offered to make any pay-
ment to the American author, whom he
had despoiled and whose work he had
disfigured. — Brander Matthews in
New Princeton Review for September.
English publishers and American
authors — The experience of General
Lew Wallace with Messrs. Frederick
Warne & Co. is peculiar. When Gen-
eral Wallace was last in London, he
went to Warne's shop, and bought a copy
of Ben Hur. He examined it for a
minute, and then asked to see the head
of the firm, whose attention he called to
certain alterations made in England
Weddings in colonial days — In Mr.
Sanford's History of Connecticut, recently
issued, is the following : " Weddings in
early colonial days were usually cele-
brated quietly at the home of the bride.
With the increase of wealth there was a
marked charge in this respect. Not
only were the banns proclaimed in the
church, but a general invitation was
given from the pulpit to attend the cere-
mony. Friends and neighbors were
entertained with a lavish hospitality at
the bride's house. On the wedding-day,
muskets were fired ; and those who at-
tended the ceremony marched in pro-
cession to the bride's home. The wed-
ding feasts lasted sometimes for two or
three days. At a grand wedding in
New London, on the day after the mar-
riage ninety-two ladies and gentlemen,
it is said, proceeded to dance ninety-two
jigs, fifty-two contra dances, forty-five
minuets, and seventeen hornpipes."
350
QUERIES
Who led the troops in the final
unsuccessful charge after arnold
was wounded at quebec in 1776?
Editor of Magazine American History —
Will you kindly insert in your esteemed
Magazine the following query ? Every
history of the United States which I
have had access to says that on the morn-
ing of January i, 1776, when Mont-
gomery was killed before Quebec and
Arnold wounded, the attacking party
was rallied and led to the final unsuc-
cessful charge by General Daniel Mor-
gan, afterwards of famous memory in
the South and victor of the Cowpens.
But the following facts seem to be
undisputed. Schuyler and Montgomery
advanced by way of Lake Champlain
and Montreal, while Arnold went by way
of Albany — the two bodies joining oppo-
site or near Quebec. Their combined
forces hardly exceeded 1,000 men while
Carleton, inside of Quebec, had 1,200
troops of the line, besides organizing the
citizens into companies. But it appears
that a regiment of Continental troops
was raised in Berkshire and Hampden
counties, Massachusetts, late in 1775, of
which Elisha Porter of Hadley was
chosen colonel, and Abner Morgan (a
lawyer of Brimfield, Hampden county)
major. This regiment was ordered to
contain 728 men, and it marched to
Albany and joined Arnold, and shared
his terrible march through the wilderness
and the snow, breast-deep and trackless.
Now, if the combined troops of Arnold
and Montgomery — raised on an emer-
gency at the very beginning of the war,
and sent by the Continental Congress
in midwinter northward to Quebec —
QUERIES
scarcely numbered more than 1,000 men,
how happened it that Daniel Morgan, a
Southerner, and at the outbreak of the
war in Pittsburgh, was present and in a
position to be third in command ? Is it
not more likely that the Morgan who
took command after Arnold's disable-
ment was Abner Morgan, major of the
Massachusetts regiment ? As a matter
of fact, on page 180 of " the History of
Brimfield, Massachusetts " (C. M. Hyde,
Springfield, Clark W. Bryan & Co., 1879)
the statement is made that it was Major
Morgan who led the last attack at Que-
bec (following Major Morgan's career
thereafter to the close of the Revolution).
The point seems to me suggestive of
a possible correction of history — and I
hope some of your readers will look into
it. The explanation I find generally giv-
en is that Captain (afterward General)
Daniel Morgan, on the outbreak of the
war, marched 400 miles, from Pittsburgh
to Boston, to offer his services, and was
assigned to Montgomery's command.
Query, to whom did he offer his ser-
vices ? A major would have ranked a
captain, even if the captain had seen
service when Montgomery and Arnold
joined forces before Quebec. If the
history of Brimfield is right and Ban-
croft, Hildreth, Bryant and the rest
wrong, they ought to be corrected.
L. L. Lawrence
P. O. Box 5, Newtown, Long Island.
Daniel clarke or clark. — The fol-
lowing query is repeated in consequence
of errors in our August number. Daniel
Clark or Clarke came to Windsor, Con-
REPLIES
351
necticut in 1639, died 17 10 aged S7.
Miss Ann Clarke of Northampton, a
descendant (now deceased), said that he
was a nephew of Rev. Ephraim Huit (or
Huet) former minister of Wraxall near
Kenilworth, Warwickshire, and that he
came from Chester or Westchester.
" Hon. Daniel Clark " was " captain,"
" secretary of the colony," and held other
high offices. Is anything known of his
ancestry, or of his relationship to Rev.
Mr. Huit ? Address
Mrs. Edward E. Salisbury
New Haven, Connecticut.
The captured old world town. —
Did the United States ever capture a
town in the Old World, and if so what
was its name ? Amos Williams
Bently, Idaho.
REPLIES
Bridger [xv. 93, 513] — I first met this
mountaineer at the ferry on Green river,
sixty miles east of his fort on the 29th
of June, 1852 ; he then told me that he
had come to that country thirty years be-
fore, when he was eighteen years of age,
and- that he was a Kentuckian by birth.
His appearance indicated that to be his
age ; but he was remarkably spare and
thin of flesh and nearly six feet in
height. Altogether he was the most re-
markable white man I ever met on
mountain or plain, in his personal ap-
perance and demeanor. Dressed in the
clothing of a white man, he seemed to
wear it as a stranger to the garb of civil-
ized life. Surrounded, as he had been,
so many years by constant dangers, that
even while sitting at a camp fire in
the midst of white men, his eyes were
taking in every moving object in the
entire circle of his vision, slowly moving
his eyes from over one shoulder around
to gaze over the other shoulder so as to
complete the circle, taking in everything
as far as he could see, this everlasting
watch had become a fixed habit ; he was
the embodiment of " eternal vigilance."
He was an owner in the ferry, and told
me that he was to remain there until the
2d of July, and then go over to the
fort, "an afternoon's ride" — a distance
which required three days for my ox-
teams ; so on the afternoon of the third
day I kept a lookout for " Bridger " and
as he came and went over the undula-
tions of the plains, rising and falling like
the flight of the swallow, on a steady run,
'twas a memorable sight to see that hardy
mountaineer sweep along. Mounted on
one of the best of his big band of horses,
he rode as if one horse was intended for
one single journey, to be spent in the
accomplishment of that one effort.
He told me at the ferry on Green
river in a facetiously earnest manner that
his fort was situated " in the identical
spot that Adam and Eve were first placed
on earth, the original Eden. "
I was at the fort, and at that time he
had there some half-breed children.
John F. Oliver
Steubenville, Ohio.
The sabbath [xviii. 261] — The well
known " Lord's Day Act " of 1676 (29
Car. II. Cap. 7) prohibits generally all
work, labor and business on Sunday,
55?
REPLIES
except works of necessity and charity ;
and, with more or less modification, it
forms the basis of all Sunday laws now
extant in the United States.
Prior to this statute, any act done on
Sunday was of the same binding force as
if performed on any other day. Even
Parliament convened on Sunday, for in
the reign of Edward I., in 1278 and
1305, three statutes were made on Sun-
day. Nor did the first restraining laws
make any distinction between Sundays
and other holydays.
Exceptions to the law of 1676 in favor
of hackney coachmen, fishwomen and
chair bearers were enacted in 1694, 1699
and 1 7 10, and a clause was subsequently
added prohibiting bird hunting ; but it
remained in substance until alterations
and repeals of English laws ceased to
have force in this country.
The English Puritans of the time of
James I. were the first to impose the
name and character of the Jewish " Sab-
bath " upon the first day of the week,
and those who came to America brought
the name and the idea with them.
William L. Scruggs
Atlanta, Georgia.
The sabbath [xviii. 261] — The sub-
stitution of the first day of the week for
the observance of the Sabbath, or holy-
day of rest, dates back to the early ages
of Christianity. The origin lies in the
fact that in six days God created all
things, resting on the seventh day. The
Christians formerly observed both the
first and the seventh days. Killikelly
says : " The Sabbath was legally pro-
claimed about the year 149 1 B.C. on
Mount Sinai. " He further says : " Con-
stantine the Great issued an edict, a.d.
321, proclaiming Sunday as a legal day of
rest and holy unto the Lord, which edict
was subsequently incorporated in the
civil law of the empire, and ultimately
adopted by all the nations which arose
from the ruins of the Roman Empire."
H. B.
Beverley robinson [xviii. 167] —
Editor Magazine of American History :
It is said in the August number of the
Magazine that Beverley Robinson, the
"Young Colonel," as he was commonly
called, " lived during the latter part of
his life in New York, where his descend-
ants may yet be found." In point of
fact he lived for many years upon his
place, the Nashwaaksis, upon the river
St. John, opposite Frederickton, New
Brunswick, and only returned to New
York in 18 16 to visit his son Beverley.
He died here very unexpectedly in that
year, at the age of 61, and was buried in
the west end of St. Paul's Churchyard.
His descendants are most of them still
living in New Brunswick. His eldest son
Beverley, returned to New York about
1800 and became well known there as a
lawyer and as a trustee of Columbia
College. He died in 1857, and was
buried in the parish churchyard of Ja-
maica, Long Island. His grandson Bev-
erley is the present head of the family.
Henry Barclay Robinson, a grandson
of the "Young Colonel " (the eldest son
of the fifth son John) removed to New
York 1862, and died in 1874. He was
the father of the present John Beverley
Robinson of New York.
Colonel Beverley Robinson the younger
never lived in New York after the war,
REPLIES.
353
and the gentlemen just named are the
only two of his descendants who returned
to it.
I had occasion once before, in the
Magazine, to point out a similar confu-
sion of identity. It is surprising to see
how many writers of repute confuse John
Robinson, the President of Virginia,
with his son John, the speaker of the
Assembly.
Beverley R. Betts
Jamaica, New York, Aug. 28, 1887.
Egyptian obelisk [xviii. 169] — The
pair of obelisks — one in London and
the other in New York city — were erected
by Thothmes III., in Heliopolis before
the Temple of the Sun — about 1600 B.C.
They were three centuries later removed
from Heliopolis by Rameses II., and set
up in front of Csesar's temple, where they
obtained the well known name of " Cleo-
patra's Needles." When his wars were
ended, Rameses II. caused his name and
titles to be inscribed upon the obelisk on
each side of the inscriptions of his re-
nowned ancestor, Thothmes III. One
of these obelisks was removed to London
in 1878, and the other was brought to the
United States, and erected on its pedes-
tal in Central Park in January, 1881. Its
height, including its base on which it
stands, is 80 feet, and its weight, with
pedestal and foundations, 712,000
pounds. It is red granite from the
quarries of Syene. C. P. C
Boodle [xviii. 82, 171, 262] — In Unity
for August it is said: " This word seems
Vol. XVIII.-No. 4.-24
to have come into use within five years,
and during the same period the thing
signified seems to have become wonder-
fully prominent and important. For
one thing, no election can be conducted
now without boodle first and last . . .
Boodle does not mean capital or stock
in trade except the business or trade be
something secret, peculiar and illegal.
Boodle always means money, but money
is not always boodle. Money honestly
received and spent, money that circulates
in regular and honest channels, that ap-
pears in cash book and ledger and ex-
pense account is never boodle ; but when
a sum, a thousand dollars more or less,
is given to some one to use in influenc-
ing some third party, given perhaps in
silence and certainly without requiring
any writing of acknowledgment or ob-
ligation, that is boodle. Boodle is money
used for purposes of bribery and corrup-
tion, and the same word is used to in-
dicate the money that comes as spoils,
the result of some secret deal, the profits
of which are silently divided. The term
is also used to cover the ill-gotten gains
of the bank robber or the absconding
cashier — 'he carried away so much
boodle.' In elections the primaries
have to be ' fixed,' a great many men
have to be ' seen,' in short, the amount
of money that it seems necessary to use
to elect a few honest public servants is
a thing to wonder at. And when these
men are elected it seems that they often
lose the power of distinguishing between
■ boodle ' and ' straight money.' The
word 'boodle ' seems destined to take its
permanent place in our language."
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
THE history of artists abounds with instances of jealousy, perhaps more than that of
any other class of men of genius. Disraeli tells us that Hudson, the master of Joshua
Reynolds, could not endure the sight of his rising- pupil, and would not suffer him to con-
clude the term of his apprenticeship ; even the mild and elegant Reynolds himself became
so jealous of Wilson, that he took every opportunity of depreciating his singular excel-
lence. Stung by the madness of jealousy, Barry, one day, addressing Sir Joshua on his
lectures, exclaimed : " Such poor, flimsy stuff as your discourses ! " clinching his fist in
excitement. After the death of the great artist, Barry bestowed on him the most ardent
eulogism. and deeply grieved over the past. The famous cartoon of the battle of Pisa, a
work of Michael Angelo, produced in the competition with Leonardo da Vinci, and in
which he struck out the idea of a new style, is only known by a print which has preserved
the wonderful composition — for the original, it is said, was cut into pieces by the mad jeal-
ousy of Baccio Bandinelli, whose whole life was made wretched by his consciousness of a
superior rival.
It is only a little more than two years since an article was published in this magazine,
on " The Framers of the Constitution," in which the following paragraph appeared : " We
are rapidly nearing one of the most important centennial anniversaries in our national
history — that of the adoption of a form of government capable of holding forty republics
in one solid and prosperous whole — embracing fifty-five millions of people, and territory
in extent nearly, if not quite, equal to that of all Europe. The subject is one of living in-
terest, and will be brought afresh 1o the reading public in all varieties of written language
within the coming three years. Our blessings will brighten in the unusual light, and with
the new polish we shall better comprehend the framework that has withstood the storms
of a century, and be prepared for the more just appreciation of its stability as the years
roll on and the states roll in. But the achievement that preceded and was vastly more
remarkable than its adoption was the production of the Constitution. Such a form of
government had hitherto been unknown to the science of politics. The structure was a
special creation, and at a time when the future of the country was mapped only in the
imagination. " We recall these prophetic words at this time with peculiar satisfaction, for,
just as we go to press, an imposing celebration is in progress at Philadelphia, worthy of the
great historic event it will commemorate.
THAT there is such a thing as conscience, and therefore individual responsibility, in
the study of history, is a fact not wholly ignored, even by those of its lovers who are un-
known to fame. But that there is such a thing as conscience and individual responsibility
in the making of history, is not so well appreciated. Right living in view of one's part in
this glorious work, and the fact that the sole qualification for the fit discharge of our duty
is love of God and country, is well put by Dr. Storrs : "The historical progress which
moves admiration has been initiated, and afterward assured and guided by spiritual ener-
gies. We have never reached the secrets of history till we apprehend these. And every
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS 355
man and every woman has his or her work in the world plainly set forth under the light of
this great lesson. It is for each, in the measure of the power and opportunity of each, to cher-
ish and diffuse the temper out of which, in their time, the great and benign changes shall
come. Neither the eloquent and stimulating speech which went before our civil war, nor the
military judgment, fortitude, valor, which presided over its historic fields, would have availed
to carry to success the vast revolution which we have seen and for which the country to-
day rejoices from the Lakes to the Gulf, except for the patient love of freedom and hatred
of slavery, which had been nurtured in quiet homes, by peaceful firesides, in the preceding
years. In dispersed villages the real battle was fought — not at Gettysburg nor at Shiloh.
The splendid burst of our century-plant into a bloom as rich and brilliant as the Conti-
nent ever can show, went back to hidden and homely roots. And till that great experi-
ence is forgotten, the lesson which all the study of history imperatively teaches cannot
lose its emphasis for us — that every one in a civilized and advancing community has the
opportunity to do something for the future, as well as for the present, and that on each is
set the crown of this noble right and this imperious obligation."
It is said that the Norwegians on the first sight of roses dared not touch what they
conceived were trees budding with fire ; and the natives of Virginia are reported as hav-
ing, the first time they seized on a quantity of gunpowder which belonged to the English
colony, sowed it for grain, expecting to reap a plentiful crop of combustion by the next
harvest, sufficient to blow away all the intruders.
Chicago is to be congratulated on its new library, founded through the munificent
bequest of Mr. Walter L. Newberry, who died at sea in 1868. He came to Chicago when
it had a population of only ten thousand, and by judicious investments accumulated a
large fortune. The library fund in the hands of trustees has reached $2,000,000, and
at its present rate of increase can be easily calculated upon as something substantial.
After the purchase of the site, which has already been determined upon, the income only
can be used for the building up of the library ; but with an income say of five per cent,
on two millions of dollars, great things can be accomplished. This library, it is under-
stood, will be made one of reference, thus avoiding competition with the present Public
Library, and developing a special function which may become one of immense value.
Mr. W. F. Poole is to be in charge, and has already entered on his duties. The plans for
the building will be shaped with deliberation ; the work of accumulating and arranging
the books will begin at once in temporary quarters.
The rapid increase of libraries on this continent is a most encouraging sign of the
times. There is no country in the world where intelligence and culture are so general as
in the United States. In almost every little town from the Atlantic to the Pacific may
now be found the germ of a public library, where those who have neither homes nor books
of their own may keep abreast wTith the information of the times. These town libraries
usually begin in a small way, but once started, books and periodicals roll in, and they
grow larger and more useful every year. It is not very long since superintendents and
teachers recognized the importance of founding libraries for the schools. Now the school
without a library is the exception, not the rule.
356 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
The forming of reading clubs in social circles is becoming very popular the country
through. A lady traveling recently in some of the interior towns in Massachusetts found
them in every community, and not infrequently three or four in the same village. The
membership varies from ten to twenty-five, the lesser number being the more often ob-
served. The ladies form their club, select their books, and each one subscribes for some
leading periodical, which is sent to her address. Of course, no two of the members sub-
scribe for the same periodical ; thus, each one may read her own first, and pass it on in
systematic order. The club by this means is able, at a comparatively small outlay, to be-
come familiar with the contents of all the best current publications. At the end of the
season the club holds an auction, enabling the members to retain what is worth preserv-
ing, and the remainder of the periodicals and books are sold.
It is a curious circumstance that in the height of the vast popularity of " Marco
Bozzaris," the sister of Fitz-Greene Halleck never heard of it, much less that the great poem
was written by her brother. In a letter to her of March 26, 1827, he says : " 1 am much
surprised and quite amused at your not having heard of my rhymes on ' Marco Bozzaris.'
You remind me of the Chinese in one of Goldsmith's essays, who, on inquiring at a book-
seller's shop in Amsterdam for the works of the immortal Chongfu (or some such name),
was astonished to find that the illustrious and immortal author and his writings were totally
unknown out of China. Why, 'Bozzaris' has been published and puffed in a thousand
(more or less) magazines and newspapers, not only in America, but in England, Scotland,
Ireland, etc. It has been translated into French and modern Greek. It has been spouted
on the stage and off the stage, in schools and colleges. It has been quoted even in the
pulpit, and placed as mottoes over the chapters of a novel or two. . . . And, after
all, that you should never have heard it, or read it — you, almost the only person living
to whom the music of my fame can be delightful, is really worthy of remark."
Ix 1863, Fitz-Greene Halleck wrote to a lady friend who had solicited his photograph
— he was then seventy-three years old — saying : " It is not by a great deal so handsome,
begging its pardon, as I am at present ; for in order to be in the fashion, I have allowed
my beard to grow long, and, to avoid being accused from my youthful appearance of
being under forty-five and liable to be drafted into the army, I keep it nicely whitewashed ;
so that were you to meet me you would mistake me for my good friend, Mr. Bryant, the
poet, and would esteem and respect me accordingly. I think that the sun since it com-
menced taking likenesses for a living, has been more successful in its hats and great coats
than in the human face divine. Because it is as old as creation, it evidently takes pleasure
in making those who are silly enough to sit to him look as old as himself."
It is interesting to remember that the year 1839 was distinguished by the first ex-
periment in New York through which Daguerre's novel process of making pictures be-
came known to the public. As they required an exposure of twenty minutes — too long
for taking portraits — he stated that living objects could not be taken ; they could not
keep still long enough. Professor Morse, of telegraph fame, was one of the first to see
that a new field of art industry would be opened, and made some interesting experi-
ments.
BOOK NOTICES
357
BOOK NOTICES
A DIGEST OF THE INTERNATIONAL
LAW OF THE UNITED STATES ; taken
from documents issued by Presidents and
Secretaries of * State, and from decisions of
Federal Courts, and opinions of Attorney-
Generals. Edited by Francis Wharton,
LL. D. ; in three volumes, pp. 825, 832, 837
Washington : Government Printing Office,
1886.
These volumes, issued under a resolution of
Congress, are not a digest of international law,
but of the international law of the United
States — two very different things. The influence
of the American republic upon the law of na-
tions during the century that it has existed has
been so great as to modify if not change in
many particulars that law as understood and laid
down prior to 1783. From the 4th of July, 1776,
till the Constitution of the United States went
into operation, in 1789, thirteen separate, in-
dependent and perfect sovereignties existed in
North America. As such thirteen perfect and
sovereign states, independent of each other,
they were respectively and severally named, and
respectively and severally acknowledged to be
such, by the King of Great Britain, in and by the
treaty of peace 0^1783. In 1789 " the United
States" as such, and as the world now knows
them, began their national existence, as a great
duplex republic, one as to all the outside world,
several as to themselves as its equal confederated
parts. A form of government entirely new, and,
as John Quincy Adams said, forced by their own
necessities from a reluctant people. In fear and
trembling the great experiment was begun ; the
world looked on derisively, and it was long be-
fore those who adopted it felt that confidence
in their own work which alone could insure
its stability. A great living English statesman
has described the Constitution of the United
States as the greatest form of human govern-
ment ever struck out at once from the brain of
man. And well may he say so, for its results
have changed practically, if not actually, in
both domestic and international matters, the
pre-existent rules and forms of action of every
other government in the civilized world. Of
course, this result in matters international was
not effected without great friction. A quasi
war with France, one war with Great Britain,
one with Algiers, one with Mexico, and the
greatest civil war in the annals of mankind,
have resulted in the laying down and carrying
out by the American Republic of those rules of
law and modifications of the former law of na-
tions which, by consent of all existing govern-
ments, are now in operation. Of this, so to
speak, United States international law, Mr.
Wharton has given, in this great work, the first
and only digest that exists. It is more than a
digest : it is a history with full citations of all
authorities, of the relations of the United States
with all civilized peoples, and their action with
them upon all subjects which fall within the
power or the cognizance of national govern-
ments ; and it is written with great clearness and
marked ability. Strange to say, no such work
has ever before been attempted. It covers not
only the printed publications of the Government,
but also the vast mass of manuscript volumes of
record in the department at Washington. " I
have," says Mr. Wharton, " carefully studied,
not merely the messages of our Presidents, but
the volumes, now nearly four hundred in number,
in which are recorded the opinions of our Secre-
taries of State. I have no hesitation in say-
ing that the opinions of our Secretaries of State,
coupled with those of our Presidents, as to
which they were naturally consulted, form a body
of public law which will stand at least on a foot-
ing of equality with the state papers of those of
foreign statesmen and jurists with which it has
been my lot to be familiar. But where are to
be found the documents which embody the
utterances of those charged with the direction of
our foreign affairs ? ... It will be seen
that three-fourths of them are still in manuscript,
accessible only by special permission of the Sec-
retary of State." Then, referring to the fact
that the earlier published state papers are all long
since out of print. Mr. Wharton continues :
"Whether these records should be reprinted as
a whole is a matter of interest. If they were,
they would cover four hundred volumes of the
ordinary law-book size. It would be difficult for
one, seeking in haste to find rulings on some
pending question of international law, to come
to an accurate result from the study, in the short
time assigned him, of so vast a mass of authori-
ties. I have endeavored to meet this want by
the present digest. In seeking for material I
have turned every page of the volumes of rec-
ords in the Department to which I have re-
ferred ; and I have consulted in connection with
them the various publications to be found in the
annexed table " a table which covers seven
pages of small type. From this it can be seen
how thoroughly and well Mr. Wharton has per-
formed his task. No more useful and valuable
work has for many years been issued from
the Government press,- and none which is a
greater boon to historians and public men.
YORK DEEDS. Book I., 1642-1666 [Maine].
Preface and Introduction by H.W. Richard-
son. 8vo, pp. 422. Portland, Maine, 1S87 :
John T. Hall.
In the introduction to this volume, Mr. Rich-
ardson, under whose supervision, in behalf of
358
BOOK NOTICES
the Maine Historical Society, the work has been
produced, gives an animated sketch of the early
history of Maine, taking into account the nu-
merous documents which have accumulated
since Williamson wrote his history of Maine,
and which were inaccessible to that author.
This is, w: believe, the first attempt to recon-
struct the narrative in connection with the new
and important material. Mr. Richardson says :
" The source of all land titles in Maine is the
crown of England. The first English settle-
ment here was authorized by a royal license,
which guaranteed to the emigrants all the liber-
ties, franchises, and immunities of Englishmen
at home They came as English subjects, and
they brought with them the laws of England.
It was declared in the same instrument that one
purpose of their coming was to bring the sav-
ages living in this region to human civility, and
to a settled and quiet government. The Indi-
ans occupied the soil as a boat occupies a river.
They did not inclose and improve any consider-
able portion of it. They did not possess it as
their property. The origin of property is the
right which every man has to the fruits of his
own labor. If he fences, clears, and cultivates
a piece of land previously unimproved and un-
occupied, he creates a value which is justly his.
The Indian deeds conveyed no property of this
kind. The King's license conveyed no property
in this sense. King and sagamore alike granted
permission to English subjects to create prop-
erty in American lands."
The introduction covers some fifty-seven
pages, and is an able presentation of the story
of the discovery of the region and its occupa-
tion by English-speaking people. The early
charters are brought under discussion, as well as
the London Company, the fisheries, and the fur
trade. We are shown how Captain John Smith,
that " experienced, honest, but headstrong and
imperious adventurer," set himself against the
opinions of the time, and was excluded from
further participation in the enterprises on the
New England coast. He, indeed, used strange
language in a book written for English eyes, in
an age when wages were regularly fixed by
magistrates at the quarter sessions ; he said :
" Here (in America) are no landlords to rack us
with high rents, or extort fines to consume us ;
here every man may be master and owner of his
own labor and land." Smith argued that if the
fishermen and traders were encouraged, the
country would settle itself.
During the period covered by this first book
of deeds the representatives of Sir Ferdinando
Gorges, of Alexander Rigby, and of the Duke
of York, the general court of Massachusetts,
and the royal commissioners sent over in 1667,
all claimed and exercised jurisdiction within the
present Limits of Maine. Gorges and Rigby, it
will be seen, expected to transplant the feudal
land system of England to America. They
dreamed of great domains and an industrious
tenantry and profitable rent-rolls. This volume
is one of surpassing interest and value to all
classes of students as well as the historian.
CHRIST IN THE CAMP: or, Religion in
Lee's Army. By J. Wm. Jones, D.D., Sec-
retary Southern Historical Society. 8vo, pp.
528. Richmond: B. F. Johnson & Co., 1887.
A large amount of material has been pub-
lished about the war in the last few years, the
greater part of which, however, has consisted of
descriptions of campaigns and discussions of the
military movements involved. The official re-
ports, as published by the government, together
with the careful study of these by many compe-
tent persons, are giving us a technical history of
the civil war more fully and more carefully done
than any on record.
But there are many things about the civil
war, and the armies who fought it, more inter-
esting than the strategy of campaigns, the tac-
tics of battles, or the military genius of com-
manders. The next generation will not be less
interested in the daily lives of the soldiers than
in their military movements. They will want to
know what manner of men they were, by what
motives they were guided, how they bore them-
selves in camp and on the march, as well as in
battle. It has been a matter of surprise to some
historians that the Confederate armies were so
steadfast, so daring, and so self-sacrificing.
Of course, the ability with which they were
led was one of the strong elements of Confed-
erate success. Another was the fact that the
war to them was a defensive one, in which their
homes and their household gods were at stake.
The feeling of patriotism was probably never
more vigorous among any soldiers than among
those that followed Lee. The book before us
shows to what point the patriotic feelings of all
classes in the South were wrought. But, in
addition to all these causes, Dr. Jones' book
throws a flood of light upon the characters and
the aims of the men who won so many and so
great victories. A large proportion of the rag-
ged soldiery that followed Lee, Jackson, and
Stuart were earnest Christian men, inspired by
a faith as strong, and living lives as pure as
Cromwell's Ironsides. These men, in many
cases, had left their homes of refinement and
ease to shoulder a musket, and to undergo all
the privations of a Confederate camp. What-
ever ebullition of feeling may have taken some
of them into the army, nothing but the strong-
est convictions of duty kept them there. It is
after reading Dr. Jones' book that we can best
understand how these men bore cheerfully their
trials, and fought on with undiminished courage
when hope of success had fled. Even on the
last disastrous retreat to Appomattox, Lee's
army showed an undaunted front to their pur-
BOOK NOTICES
359
suers, and though well-nigh starved, was ready
to engage in battle on the very day of the sur-
render. These men were simple, honest, earn-
est, God-fearing. Lee, Stonewall Jackson,
Stuart, and many others, were leaders thor-
oughly in religious sympathy with the men they
led. To such hosts, death, wounds, toils, pri-
vations, had no terrors, when in that way lay
the path to heaven.
Dr. Jones preserves many valuable statistics
showing the labors of various organizations en-
gaged in the religious work in the army and
hospitals ; and his account of how this work was
carried on, taken from contemporary authorities,
is very interesting. But all this yields in inter-
est, as well as importance, to the picture he
gives of religious life in the Army of Northern
Virginia ; to the description of church services
and prayer-meetings in which whole brigades
participated ; of the great revivals which took
place in every part of the army; of the activity
of church work when in winter quarters ; of the
gathering of thousands upon some hillside in
summer to worship God, where general officers,
including Lee and Jackson, knelt with their
men and guided their devotions ; where chap-
lains' words were often heard as the men were
preparing for battle, and the services were often
interrupted by the opening of the firing ; where
such men as General Gordon, of Georgia,
preached to their men before leading them into
the "perilous edge of battle."
There are some repetitions in this book, diffi-
cult to avoid in such a compilation, and a want,
in several instances, of chronological sequence.
In some places dates are omitted, or only the
month given, without the year. It would add
to the clearness and value of this volume if
these oversights should be corrected in the next
edition.
JOURNALS OF THE MILITARY EXPE-
DITION OF MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN
SULLIVAN against the Six Nations of
Indians in 1779. With records of Centennial
Celebrations. By Frederick Cook, Secre-
tary of State. 8 vo. pp. 579. Auburn, New
York : Knapp, Peck & Thomson, Printers,
1887.
The several journals published in this volume
not only cover General Sullivan's expedition,
but give some account of Colonel Van Schaick's
Onondaga campaign in the spring of 1779, an<^
of Colonel Daniel Brodheads Allegany cam-
paign in the summer of 1779, with copies of orig-
inal maps made by the surveyors of the expe-
ditions. Following these are the records of the
cenntenial celebrations of 1879 at Elmira,
Waterloo, Geneseo, and Aurora, in the state of
New York, together with thirty or more of the
scholarly addresses delivered on those occasions.
One feature of the work which makes it specially
interesting is a series of biographical sketches,
with many fine portraits. Ex-Governor Horatio
Seymour, who was unable to be present at the
Elmira celebration, wrote: " The campaign un-
der General Sullivan was a military necessity.
It was something more than a mere raid upon
savage tribes : it was a movement against a
powerful confederacy, which had exerted great
influence through more than two centuries of war-
fare. The Six Nations were never regarded in
the same light as other Indian races by the gov-
ernments of Europe. As a rule they held that
the mere act of discovery gave all rights of con-
trol over the persons and territories of other
savage tribes. But no such claim was put forth
against the Iroquois. The power of their con-
federacy, their victories in war, their policy in
peace, lifted them, in the eyes of the world, to a
position in which they were treated with all the
forms and consideration ever accorded to inde-
pendent, powerful governments. The monarchs
of France and Britian had sued for their favors,
had courted their alliance. They looked upon
the Iroquois as the arbiters who had the power
to decide whether the civilization of this continent
should be French or English in its aspects. It
was to them that the agents of the colonies, from
Nova Scotia to the Carolinas, sent embassadors
to invoke aid to check or punish other Indians
when they attacked the borders of the whites.
It was to the Iroquois that New England ap-
pealed when King Philip threatened the exist-
ence of its colonies. Nor was the appeal in vain.
Indifference to history, and to the features of
our country which have shaped it, is the offspring
of ignorance. Why should we cheat and wrong
ourselves by failing to make the scenes in which
we live of interest by a knowledge of their
events ? No people can rise to a high degree of
patriotism who do not cherish the memory of
their fathers' deeds."
The volume is crowded with thrilling records
and brilliant utterances. It bears evidence on
every page of conscientious care in its compila-
tion, painstaking industry and editorial taste.
TRANSACTIONS AND REPORTS OF THE
NEBRASKA HISTORICAL SOCIETY.
Vol. II. S vo. pp. 383. Lincoln, Nebraska :
State Journal Company, Printers, 1887.
The material in this volume relates chiefly to
the territorial and early periods of Nebraska his-
tory. It consists of papers read at the two last
annual meetings, with varied sketches and bio-
graphical notes. Mr. A. G. Warner's five
sketches " From Territorial History " are packed
with interesting statements and incidents. We
are forcibly reminded of the extreme youth of
Nebraska in his account of efforts made as late
as 1854 to find inhabitants enough in Jones
County (then a vast district) to hold an election
\6o
BOOK NOTICES
for assemblymen. The report of the investigator
was : "Said county contains no inhabitants at
all, save a few in one corner that properly be-
long in Richardson, and who ought to vote
there." The author further tells us that nearly
all the members of the first territorial assembly
of Nebraska came over from Iowa for the ex-
press purpose of being elected to that body. It
is amusing to note in the same connection that
in many instances constituencies were imported
from outside places in two-horse wagons, "with
necessarv ballot-boxes, election blanks, and re-
freshing refreshments. " One such party started
to hunt up Burt County; it was such a long, weary
distance that their patriotism and horses flagged,
and without caring much about the exact locality
they were in, they stopped in a piece of woods
in Washington County and held a picnic.
" The result was a set or vastly formal returns,
by which the desired number of assemblymen
were elected." The first serious work of the
early assembly was the passing of special acts
of incorporation. The only way to get an ap-
proximately sound title to land was to have a
town incorporated — and lack of inhabitants in
no way interfered with that process. In March,
1 5 5 5 , the first insurance company was born.
The papers of Hon. C. H. Gere, of Hon. Had-
ley D. Johnson, of Judge James W. Savage,
of Rev. Samuel Allis, and many others, are rich
in historical instruction. The credit of this ad-
mirably edited volume, is due to Hon.. Robert
W. Furnas, of Brownville, President of the
Nebraska Historical Society, and George E.
Howard, its able secretary.
HISTORY OF THE KINGS-BRIDGE, now
part of the 24th Ward, New York City. With
Map and Index. By Thomas H. Edsall,
member of the New York Historical Society.
8vo. pp. 102. Privately printed. New York
City, 1887.
There is much interesting information em-
bodied in this little work. The historical
sketch-map of Kings- Bridge with which it opens,
is a pertinent geographical lesson in itself. It
shows just what the author is writing about.
The area consists of about four thousand acres
to the south of the city of Yonkers. and bounded
on the east by Bronx River; it extends to
Spuyten Duyvil on the south and the Hudson
on the west. A clever description is given of
the early owners of the property, and also of
I hose who came into possession later on. Revo-
lutionary matters in that locality are treated in
considerable detail; and the author has made a
careful study of political and church history.
We notice some errors, one of orthography in
particular, which ought to be corrected in a
future edition. The name of the first Van
Cortlandt in this country is printed on page 12,
as " Olaf; " it should be Oloff. In the appen-
dix are several documents of value, a copy of the
" O'Neale Patent," and of several deeds ex-
ecuted by Elias Doughty.
POCAHONTAS, alias Matoaka, and her de-
scendants through her marriage at Jamestown,
Virginia, in April, 1614, with John Rolfe.
Gentleman; with biographical sketches by
Wyndham Robertson, and illustrative his-
torical notes by R. A. Brock. 8vo. pp. 84.
Richmond, Va., 1887. J.W. Randolph & Co.
To all who are interested in the discussions pro
and con concerning the true story of Pocahontas,
this little work will be welcome. Rev. Philip
Slaughter, D.D., of Virginia, writes to the
author: "I congratulate you upon having pro-
cured from England authentic copies of the only
original portrait of Pocahontas, so that we may
see her as she appeared to the eyes of the artist
instead of through the medium of the engraved
caricatures." The picture to which he refers is
the frontispiece to the volume. The story of
Pocahontas is here told in all its bearings, and
the modern critics are placed on trial for their
- statements to her disadvantage. The author
firmly believes in Smith's story of his rescue by
Pocahontas. An interesting feature of the book
is the chapter on the descendants of Pocahontas,
including the names of Alfriend, Archer, Bent-
ley, Bernard, Bland, Boiling, Branch, Cabell,
Catlett, Cary, Dandridge, Dixon, Douglas,
Duval, Eldridge, Ellett, Ferguson, Field, Flem-
ing, Gay, Gordon, Griffin, Grayson, Harrison,
Flubbard, Lewis, Logan, Page, and others.
FIVE-MINUTE READINGS FOR YOUNG
LADIES. [For School and College.] Selected
and adapted by Walter K. Forbes, i 6mo.
pp. 191. Boston, 1887. Lee and Shepard.
This charming little pocket volume cannot
fail to become exceedingly popular wherever it
is known. The selections are chiefly from the
works of our best writers, and have been skill-
fully arranged, with expert knowledge of what
such a book should contain. The pieces are all
conveniently short ; in a few cases they have been
abridged or adapted to the purposes of recitation.
No one of them will occupy more than five min-
utes in the reading. Among the good things in
the book is "The Little Jew " by Dinah Maria
Muloch Craik, beginning with these lines :
" We were at school together, the little Jew and I;
He had black eyes, the biggest nose,
The very smallest fist for blows,
Yet nothing made him cry."
The two gems of the collection are " The
Women of Mumbles Head," by Clement Scott,
and " Letting the Old Cat Die, "by Mary Mapes
Dodge, the popular editor of St. Nicholas.
OLIVER CROMWELL.
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII NOVEMBER, 1887 No. 5
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
HISTORIC HOME OF THE SYLVESTERS
THE picturesque island which lies in the briny deep so lovingly near
the eastern shore of Long Island — between its two extreme points,
Montauk and Oyster-pond (now known as Orient), stretching out like the
tines of a fork — has had a remarkably interesting and romantic history.
The Indian inhabitants whose wigwams dotted its hillocks and glens when
it was first discovered by Europeans called it " Manhansack-ahaqua-
shuwamock," meaning an island sheltered by islands. Hence its poetic
name, Shelter Island.
Two hundred and thirty-six years ago, in June, 165 1, this whole island
was purchased for sixteen hundred pounds of " good, merchantable, Mus-
covada sugar." Its extreme length was six miles, its width four miles, and
although its shape was irregular it was estimated to contain about nine
thousand acres. It was Stephen Goodyear, of New Haven, an eminent
merchant and for a considerable period deputy-governor of the colony,
who sold the property ; and it was Nathaniel and Constant Sylvester,
Thomas Middleton, and Thomas Rouse who bought and paid the sugar for
it. The only one of these new landholders who made the island his per-
manent dwelling-place was Nathaniel Sylvester. Rouse within five years
sold his one-fourth part to John Booth, who transferred it to Nathaniel
Sylvester ; and Thomas Middleton and Constant Sylvester established
themselves at Barbadoes. The island had long been the headquarters of
the Manhansett tribe of Indians, whose sachems appear to have been more
enlightened and sagacious than most of their dusky contemporaries. They
were pleased rather than otherwise to have white people come among
them ; they cared little for the soil which they never tilled, but they were
tenacious about their rights in the matter of hunting and fishing — particu-
larly fishing. This granted, they were the best of friends and really a pro-
tection to the pioneers.
The Dutch had included this island with Long Island in the map of
their new American province of New Netherland ; but it was too remote
Vol. XVIII.— No. 5.-25
362
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
from their seat of government at Manhattan to receive attention. Its
general characteristics were unknown until the English appropriated it.
In April, 1636, by request of Charles I. the English Plymouth Company
had granted the whole of Long Island and the islands adjacent to William
Alexander, first Earl of Stirling, who was an ardent friend of the king. In
this transaction the chronic dispute with the Dutch as to the just proprie-
torship of Long Island and its surroundings was entirely ignored. The fol-
lowing year the earl appointed James Farrett his agent for the sale of his
lands, sending him to America. Farrett came authorized to select ten
thousand of the best acres in the magnificent domain to become his own
personal property. He traveled through its length and breadth, examining
it with a critical eye, and then with unerring judgment chose Shelter Island,
together with its
^y little neighbor,
Robbin's Island.
By virtue of his
commission from
the Earl of Stir-
ling Farrett con-
firmed Lion Gar-
diner's purchase
in 1639 of the Isle
of Wight (Gardi-
ner's Island) and
empowered him
to make and put
in practice all
needful laws of church and state. But he projected no improvements
of any note on Shelter Island, being occupied in trying to sell large
tracts and in bringing about settlements by New England people in
the eastern part of Long Island, in order to maintain possession in de-
fiance of the Dutch, who derided Lord Stirling's claim. Meanwhile his
funds gave out ; his letters to the earl, who was dangerously ill, were
unanswered; he was obliged to mortgage Shelter Island to raise money
for current expenses, and when the news of the death of Stirling, in 1640,
reached him, changing the whole aspect of affairs, he sailed at once for
England. Shelter Island passed into the possession of Mr. Goodyear,
and for another decade its native inhabitants caught fish in the sparkling
waters and reveled in the free use of their beautiful hunting grounds.
The Sylvesters were Englishmen who, through their adherence to
MAP OF 1686, SHOWING LOCATION OF SHELTER ISLAND.
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAM)
363
Charles I., and subsequently to Charles II., found it inconvenient to remain
in England. Had there been no Oliver Cromwell, Shelter Island would have
had a very different and doubtless much more prosaic history. The disas-
ters that befel the unfortunate Charles I. and his final execution turned
the attention of many a Royalist toward the new world. While Cromwell
was leading his army against the Scots at Dunbar, in 1650, the Sylvesters
(there were five or six brothers, all of whom were wealthy merchants) were
resolutely preparing to leave the kingdom ; and when, on the 3d of Sep-
tember, 165 1, Cromwell achieved his great victory over Charles II. at Wor-
cester, they had already, nearly three months before, secured Shelter Island
THE HOME OF THOMAS BRINLEY IN ENGLAND.
in America, and the family had found a temporary asylum in Holland.
Important business interests must be adjusted, and then three of the
brothers, with their families and their mother, a lady of strong character
and many virtues, removed with their effects to Barbadoes. Even there
they were not beyond the reach of the Cromwell government, and on sev-
eral occasions were in great trouble. Constant Sylvester was arrested and
imprisoned for a time as the leader of the loyalist faction. Madame Syl-
vester, the mother, is on record in Barbadoes as asking that she might be
treated as an Englishwoman, not as a Dutchwoman. The father-in-law
of Nathaniel Sylvester was Thomas Brinley, auditor of Charles I. and also
of Charles II., and keeper of the accounts of the dower of Henrietta Maria.
He was a man of integrity, wealth, and sound judgment, very much loved
3^4
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
and trusted by the royal family. It was to the fastnesses near the ances-
tral home of the Brinleys in Staffordshire that Charles II. fled after his
final defeat by Cromwell ; and Thomas Brinley was one of the few who
met the fugitive monarch at Woodstock, under the roof of Sir Henry Lee,
of Ditchby. A few days later Charles II., while jour-
neying south in disguise hoping to escape into France,
summoned Thomas Brinley to meet him at Oxford to
consult about supplies. As a consequence of his compli-
ance, Brinley's estates were confiscated and a warrant
issued by Parliament for his arrest. He eluded his pur-
suers, however, and with the king reached the continent
in safety ; but he was obliged to live in exile until the
Restoration. His family were scattered. His lovely
young daughter, Grissell Brinley, only sixteen years of
age (she was baptized in 1636), went forth from his lux-
urious mansion to wed her lover, Nathaniel Sylvester,
who, although he had been absent from England for
several months, appeared upon the scene to claim her
hand. Their romantic wedding occurred in the early
part of 1652, and their bridal tour was a voyage across,
the Atlantic, ending in a veritable shipwreck. Their
fellow-passengers were Francis Brinley, brother of the
bride, founder of the well-known Brinley family in this
country, Governor William Coddington of Rhode Island,
with his bride — he had just married Anne Brinley, elder
sister of Grissell — -and Giles Sylvester, brother of the
bridegroom. This family party stopped at Barbadoes
and were handsomely entertained at the home of Con-
stant Sylvester. They then sailed for Newport, but,
encountering a terrible storm, were driven upon the
rocks near Conanicut Island.
Their unlucky ship, The Sivallow, was dashed in
pieces, prior to which the ladies had been rescued
through the heroic efforts of Sylvester, Coddington and
Brinley ; and before the wreck was complete, nearly all
on board, including a large number of servants belonging
to Sylvester, were saved. The vessel was laden with necessaries for the
new homes in America, and the loss under the circumstances must have
been very severe ; some of the household goods were washed ashore by
the breakers, and saved. The record is extant of a priceless cabinet, which
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
36:
Sylvester earnestly besought the captain of the vessel to save at any risk,
supposed to have contained royal treasures from the Brinley archives. It
was broken open in the struggle for life, and a portion of its contents de-
stroyed ; but there still exists in possession of the descendants a quaint
silver knife and fork, broken, with carnelian handles and enameled case of
Italian workmanship, of Charles I., an heir-loom given to each Princess
Mary at her christening, which, tradition informs us, crossed the ocean in
THE BOX PLANTED BY NATHANIEL AND CRISSELL SYLVESTET
TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-FIVE YEARS AGO.
this royal cabinet. A shallop was obtained at Rhode Island, and after
weary waiting on a desolate shore, and agonizing delays attended by excess-
ive discomfort, Sylvester, his wife, and a part of his servants reached their
future home. And a conspicuously undeveloped watering-place they found
in which to spend their honeymoon. How much of a habitation had been
provided before they arrived history is shy about telling ; Sylvester
was on the island when it was bought from Goodyear in 165 1, and he
had sent at least one shipload of goods and workmen to precede his coming.
366 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
But the chances are that they had nothing better than a tent to live in at
first, and the outlook that winter of 1653 must have been the reverse of
cheery. Fortunately, both Sylvester and the charming Grissell were highly
educated, and not only capable of appreciating the natural beauties of their
island retreat, but of forecasting the future, and they were warmly attached
to each other. They overcame all obstacles, and built a remarkably sub-
stantial home, considering the circumstances — a house that stood the
storms of more than eighty years. Bricks for the massive chimneys and
scriptural tiles for the fire-places were imported from Holland, and the
doors and windows from Barbadoes or England. Being a. shipping mer-
chant in the West India trade, Sylvester's facilities for obtaining what he
wanted rendered him in a measure independent. He supplied the island
with as many negro slaves as he could employ to advantage in the begin-
ning. Ere long the evidences of cultivated taste were to be seen in all
directions. Gardens, rose bushes, foreign shrubs and plants, and fruit and
shade-trees encircled the dwelling. The box planted by the bridal pair
(supposed to have been brought from England) is still flourishing, as may
be seen in the illustration, and is in perfectly healthful condition, the old-
est box probably on this continent, and one of the precious links by which
the centuries may be spanned. The view looking toward the inlet of the
sea from behind this ancient box is almost precisely the same it was when
the present house was new, one hundred and fifty years ago.
It is exceptional in the history of domestic architecture in America
that two structures on one site should reach comfortably over so long a
period of time. The homestead built by Nathaniel Sylvester in 1652-3
was succeeded, in 1737, by the present mansion-house, as it has always
been called by the people of the island, erected by his grandson, Brinley
Sylvester. The elaborate carving of the panels, wainscotings, cornices,
and mantels of the new house was executed in England ; but some of the
ornamental features, and the doors, sashes, tiles, etc., of the old one were
worked into the new, sufficient to render it a worthy successor of the
original. It is a historic home in the full sense of the term, reaching
backward in its own frame-work a century and a half, and in some of its
essential parts two centuries and a third, reflecting with peculiar em-
phasis the life and character of its long line of occupants. In the yard
is an antiquated hawthorn hedge, which took firm root in the soil about
the same date as the box, and is preserved with equal tenderness and
care.
Fisher's Island, afterward erected into a manor under New York, was the
home of John Winthrop, the younger, when the Sylvesters came to Shelter
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
l(>7
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LETTER FROM NATHANIEL SYLVESTER TO GOVERNOR JOHN WINTHROP.
68 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
Island. Friendly intercourse was soon established between the two iso-
lated families. Mrs. Winthrop was an agreeable and accomplished woman,
and she became very much attached to the sweet young bride. Many of
Sylvester's letters to Winthrop are extant — having been exhumed from
the Winthrop papers — three of which are before me at this moment,
throwing a flood of light upon their domestic experiences in the long ago.
The penmanship is remarkably fine, and the style of expression that of a
scholarly man of the world. On October 10, 1654, Sylvester writes on
business, addressing Winthrop ceremoniously, with the following preface :
" After my heartie thanks for your last courtesies I have made bould by
the bearer, my brother, to salute both you and Mrs. Winthrop in these
lines," etc. A letter, dated September 8, 1655, is written in a most pa-
thetic strain. The baby is sick, cannot breathe through its nose, and is in
danger of strangling. Sylvester appeals anxiously to Winthrop for ad-
vice as to what shall be done for the little one (two months old), and for
medicine if possible. He says: " Our greef is great to see the child lay
in ye sad condition, and here we are quite out of ye way of help." A let-
ter addressed to Winthrop in 1675 will be found reproduced in full on
the preceding page.
The sugar business in which Sylvester was concerned became very
lucrative. Timber was furnished from Shelter Island with which to manu-
facture the hogsheads, it being better suited to the purpose than any pro-
duced in the West Indies. There is on record an account of the gift of a
hogshead of sugar to Winthrop by Constant Sylvester. About this time
(1656) the first Quakers appeared in Boston. The extraordinary proceed-
ings against them are well known to all cultured Americans. They were
regarded as blasphemous heretics, and the most barbarous and atrocious
persecutions followed. Many of the principal sufferers found an asylum
on Shelter Island. George Fox, founder of the society of Quakers, was
twice a guest of the Sylvesters in their hospitable home, and preached to
the Indians from the door-steps of the mansion. Hither fled the aged
Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick, who, after imprisonment, starvation,
and whipping, were banished from the jurisdiction of Boston on pain of
death, and who soon died, within three days of each other, tenderly cared
for by Mr. and Mrs. Sylvester under their own roof. It was this incident
that inspired one of Whittier's most beautiful poems :
" So from his lost home, to the darkening main
Bodeful of storm, good Macey held his way ;
And when the green shore blended with the gray
His poor wife moaned : ' Let us turn back again.'
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
3%
"* Nay woman, weak of faith, kneel
down,' said he,
' And say thy prayers : the Lord
himself will steer
And led by'Him nor man nor devils
I fear ; '
So the gray Southvvicks from a rainy
sea
Saw, far and faint, the loom of land
and gave
With feeble voices thanks for friendly
ground
Whereon to rest their weary feet and
found
A peaceful death-bed and a quiet grave,
Where ocean-walled and wiser than his
age,
The Lord of Shelter scorned the
bigot's rage."
It seems on glancing back-
ward into these dark ages as if
the more extreme the acts of
cruelty, the faster the Quakers
multiplied. The son and daugh-
ter of the Southwicks were fined
ten pounds each, and as an ex-
pedient for raising the money
the General Court at Boston
absolutely passed a resolution to
sell them into slavery, and offered
them to one sea captain after
another for the markets of Vir-
ginia and Barbadoes. No buyer
could be found ; the inhumanity
was too glaring. Other instan-
ces followed where Quakers were
fined, and having no visible prop-
erty, were sentenced to be sold
as slaves. Yet no ship masters
would ever become parties to
such transactions, and the at-
tempts failed. Two " Gospel
THE ANCIENT BOX IN THE GARDEN.
370 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
messengers " from England, William Robinson and Marmaduke Stevenson
tone coming by way of Virginia, the other via Barbadoes) met at Shelter
Island, and went to Boston in 1659 to remonstrate against the " unholy
cruelties." They were promptly seized, imprisoned, and sentenced to
banishment on pain of death. Regardless of the edict, these Quakers con-
tinued four weeks preaching in Salem, within the limits of the colony,
making many converts, and then marched back triumphantly to Boston
and gave up their lives, a willing sacrifice, to show the world the impo-
tence of persecution " to stay the work of the Lord." They were hanged
on Boston Common, and Mary Dyer was to have been executed for her
religious opinions at the same time ; but a reprieve came after her ascent
of the ladder, and she was banished instead. She went to Shelter Island,
where she remained several months; but, in March, 1660, she suddenly
made up her mind to go to Boston, and consequently her doom was sealed;
she was hung on Boston Common. The same day two other victims
were brought before the General Court at Boston, Joseph Nicholson and
wife, but death appeared to have no terrors for them. They were released
and subsequently found their asylum for a time on Shelter Island. Many
who had been mutilated, maimed, their flesh lacerated by the whips, or
burned with hot irons, were tenderly nursed — their wounds dressed and
healed — by the Sylvesters. John Rouse, whose ears were cut off, was the
son of Sylvester's former partner. William Leddra, executed early in
1661, came from Barbadoes to Shelter Island, before going to Boston. At
the very moment the court at Boston was passing sentence of death on
Leddra, Wenlock Christison walked boldly into the court room ! For a
moment Governor Endicott almost lost his voice in dismay. " Wast thou
not banished on pain of death?" he finally asked. " Yea, I was," said
Christison. " What dost thou here then?" asked Endicott. "T come to
warn you to shed no more innocent blood," said the contumacious Quaker.
He was quickly handed over to the jailer; but the case of Edward Whar-
ton just before this and his indignant protest, questioning the right of the
court to murder him when it had no charge against him but his " hat and
his hair," had disconcerted the magistrates. What he said was ringing in
their ears: "Note my words; do not think to weary out the living God
by taking away the lives of his servants. What do you gain by it ? For
the last man you put to death, here are five to come in his room " — and
the court trembled, and became suddenly divided in sentiment ; Endicott
was so disturbed that for two days he refused to preside.
But events on the other side of the Atlantic were about to terminate
these merciless outrages. The fall of the Cromwell government and the
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND 37 1
restoration of Charles II. spread consternation among those rulers in Mas-
sachusetts who had assumed powers never conferred by their charter. It
looked as if the skies were about to fall on them. Mrs. Sylvester, who had
opened her -doors so generously to the starving and suffering, had been
writing graphic and truthful accounts of the horrible persecutions to her
father in his exile, who was always near Charles II.; and the young king
thereby was kept well informed on the subject in all its dreadful details.
When the news of the tragic fate of William Leddra reached England and
it was further stated that many other Quakers in Boston were sentenced
to die, Edward Burroughs sought and was granted admission to the royal
presence. The interview was brief, Charles II. being perfectly familiar
with the situation. When Burroughs said: "A vein of innocent blood has
been opened in your dominions" — the king interrupted him with, " I will
stop that vein ; " and when Burroughs suggested that " it should be done
speedily," the king responded, " as speedily as you will," and at once called
his secretary and dictated the famous mandamus, which, as the " King's
Missive," has been immortalized in verse by one of our beloved American
poets, and which was forwarded to Boston at once by Samuel Shattuck,
one of the exiled Quakers. The scene described by Whittier on its arrival
is in accordance with the records :
" Under the great hill sloping bare
To cove and meadow and common lot,
In his council chamber and oaken chair,
Sat the Worshipful Governor Endicott.
A grave, strong man, who knew no peer
In the pilgrim land, where he ruled in fear
Of God, not man, and for good or ill
Held his trust with an iron will.
The door swung open and Ravvson the clerk
Entered, and whispered under breath,
'There waits below for the hangman's work
A fellow banished on pain of death —
Shattuck of Salem, unhealed of the whip,
Brought over in Master Goldsmith's ship
At anchor here in a Christian port,
With freight of the devil and all his sort! '
Twice and thrice on the chamber floor
Striding fiercely from wall to wall,
' The Lord do so to me and more,'
The governor cried, ' if I hang not all !
};2 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
Bring hither the Quaker.' Calm, sedate,
With the look of a man at ease with his fate.
Into that presence grim and dread
Came Samuel Shattuck with his hat on his head.
' Off with the knave's hat ! ' An angry hand
Smote down the offense, but the wearer said
With a quiet smile, ' By the King's command
I bear this message and stand in his stead.'
In the governor's hand a missive he laid
With the royal arms on its seal displayed,
And the proud man spake as he gazed thereat,
Uncovering, ' Give Mr. Shattuck his hat.'
He turned to the Quaker bowing low —
' The King commandeth your friends'1 release,
Doubt not he shall be obeyed, although
To his subjects' sorrow and sin's increase.
What he here enjoineth, John Endicott,
His loyal servant, questioneth not.
You are free ! God grant the spirit you own
May take you from us to parts unknown.'
So the door of the jail was open cast,
And, like Daniel, out of the lions' den,
Tender youth and girlhood passed,
With age-bowed women and gray-locked men.
And the voice of one appointed to die
Was lifted in praise and thanks on high,
And the little maid from New Netherland,
Kissed, in her joy, the doomed man's hand."
Soon after the capture of New York by the English, the owners of Shel-
ter Island obtained a confirmation of their title, as required by the laws
of 1664, They also arranged with Governor Nicolls for a perpetual ex-
emption from taxes and other public burdens, through the payment of
^"150, " one half in beef and the other half in pork." The last clause of
the release document is as follows :
" Now know ye, that by virtue of commission and authority given unto me by his
Royal Highness, James Duke of York, I for and in consideration of the aforesaid sum ot
/150, and for other good causes and considerations we thereunto moving, doe hereby
grant unto ye said Nathaniel and Constant Sylvester, and to their heirs and assignees
forever, that the said Island called Shelter Island, is, and forever hereafter shall be, by
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAM) 373
these presents discharged, exonerated, and acquitted from all taxes and rates, either civil
or military, etc. . . . Given under my hand and seale in James fforte ye 25 day of
May in ye year Anno Dom, 1666."
[Signed by GOVERNOR NlCOLLS.]
Six days later the governor issued the following patent, confirming the
island to the Sylvesters, with manorial privileges :
" Having come by several deeds, conveyances, and grants to Constant Sylvester of Bar-
badoes, and Nathaniel Sylvester, residing in Shelter Island, aforesaid, merchant ; and by
which said island shall be held, reputed, taken, and be an entire enfranchised township,
manor, and place of itself, and forever have, hold, and enjoy like and equal privileges and
immunities with any other town, infranchised place or manor, within this government, the
same to be held, as of his majesty, the King of England, in free and common soccage, and
by fealty only, yielding and paying yearly one lamb, upon the first day of May, if the same
shall be demanded."
Seven prosperous years rolled by. The Sylvester manor had been well
cared for and grown fruitful and attractive. Suddenly, like a thunder-
storm in a clear sky, New York was captured by the Dutch. It was at a
time of war in Europe, and the whole country was in agitation. One
bright morning several Dutch men-of-war appeared off Shelter Island, and
the captain of one of them with about fifty soldiers paid Sylvester a very
significant visit. Soon after this the question was discussed with much heat
how far the English towns in the province of New York should submit to
the new Dutch government. Nathaniel Sylvester was in active conference
with his neighbors, and accompanied the delegates to Hartford, thence to
New York. The Connecticut men were reported as " shy and cautious"
about giving advice : but Sylvester was out-spoken, and having had his
own experiences already, counseled the Long Island towns " by all means
to submit to the Dutch authorities." They assented, and for a while the
signs of promise were satisfactory. Sylvester at the same time asked the
Dutch for a confirmation of the manor privileges which Nicolls had granted
Shelter Island in 1666. In view of the fact that the heirs of his deceased
brother Constant at Barbadoes* and Thomas Middleton in England were
part owners, their shares were confiscated by the Dutch, from whom
Sylvester bought them for ,£500, to be paid " in this country's provisions."
* Constant Sylvester died in 1671. In his will he left to his daughters Grace and Mary ^2,000
each at day of marriage, or at the age of twenty-one, and over and above that, ^"100 each to buy
them a jewel at the age of sixteen years. Peter Sylvester was the only one of the Sylvester
brothers who remained in England. He was a merchant in London, where he died in 1657. His
wife was Mary Brinley, sister of Mrs. Nathaniel Sylvester, and Mrs. Governor Coddington. —
Waters' Genealogical Gleanings in hngland ; Broadhead, vol. ii., 217.
374 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
Upon his giving a bond for payment, Shelter Island was duly conveyed to
him with the privileges desired. The Sylvester manor at that time em-
braced about fifteen square miles, and he was the sole owner during the
remainder of his life.
The prospect of an attempt on the part of the English to recover New
York led the Dutch to enforce rigid regulations in each town. An oath
of allegiance to the Dutch government was exacted. The towns at the
eastern end of Long Island were not altogether agreeable. Huntington
asked to be excused from taking the oath; Easthampton asked to be left
as she was ; Southampton said the town could not abjure its king, and
swear allegiance to a foreign power ; Setauket apologized, but said her
people wished to preserve their English allegiance, and yet live at peace
with the Dutch ; and Southold objected to some of the conditions. Gov-
ernor Colve was disposed to send a large force and " punish the rebels,"
but his councilors advised otherwise ; it being a time of war between the
English and Dutch, the New England colonies might come to the help of
the towns and provoke serious mischief. Sylvester, and Lewis Morris from
Barbadoes who was his guest at Shelter Island, by special messenger
October 25, 1673, asked Colve to send a second delegation, and try to
bring the towns to order by peaceful methods. Morris had come to look
after the estate of his late brother, Richard Morris, of Morrisiana, and un-
dertake the guardianship of his boy nephew, Lewis Morris, who afterward
became the celebrated governor of New Jersey. Commissioners were ap-
pointed by the Dutch governor, of whom Hon. Cornells Steenwyck was the
leader, and sailed for Southold. Meanwhile messengers to Hartford from
Southold asked for " protection and government " against the Dutch, which
request was regarded favorably. Governor Winthrop was consulted, person-
ally it is believed, by Sylvester, and approved of resistance. He sent a
messenger to Colve with a letter containing "very pertinent and needful
premonitions for the preventing a confluence of evill consequences," what-
ever that might mean. Connecticut promptly commissioned ex-Governor
Wyllys and young Fitz John Winthrop to proceed to Southold with
"necessary attendants," and treat with such Dutch forces as they might
find there, whom they were directed " to warn that opposition would
provoke the Hartford authorities to consider what they are nextly obliged
to doe."
The Dutch commissioners started from New York on the 31st of Octo-
ber, and had a boisterous time on the Sound. Not until the 6th of Novem-
ber had they reached a point near Plum Island ; and here a sail was dis-
covered to leeward. It proved to be the little craft bearing the Connecti-
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
375
cut commissioners to the same goal, which struck its colors to the Dutch,
and anchored near Shelter Island. A boat was sent for Wyllys and VVin-
throp, who came on board the Dutch vessel, and both parties exhibited
their credentials. Toward evening Sylvester, at a signal, sent his son with
a boat to land the commissioners on Shelter Island, who spent the night
at the manor-house.
The next morning, about ten o'clock, after an appetizing breakfast, the
novel sight might have been seen of two of Sylvester's boats, manned by
his colored servants, crossing the water to Southold, the foremost contain-
ENTRANCE GATE TO THE MANSION GROUNDS.
ing the urbane Connecticut gentlemen with the king's jack in the stern,
the second boat containing the New York commissioners with the prince's
flag in the stern. They reached Southold at about two o'clock in the
afternoon, where were gathered a large armed force. The Dutch saw a
troop of cavalry parading near the shore who offered them horses to ascend
the heights, and as Wyllys and Winthrop had already mounted they ac-
cepted the proffered civility and all rode together into the village. Steen-
wyck requested that the inhabitants be convoked that he might communi-
cate to them the object of his visit, but ex-Governor Wyllys replied that
the people of Southold were subjects of the King of England and had
nothing to do with any orders of the Dutch at New York. It was an ani-
3/"*6 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
mated scene, the conversation being in both Dutch and English, and with-
out regard to the order of the verbs. One man from Southampton who
was present intimated to Steenwyck that it would be unwise to bring" that
thing " to Southampton; whereupon Steenwyck asked what he meant by
the word " thing." " The prince's flag," was the reply.
Steenwyck reported : 4t When taking leave of the Connecticut com-
missioners they asked us what village we intended to go to first in the
morning, and assured us that they should be there, as they intended to be
present at every place our commissioners should visit." On leaving South-
old the Dutch commissioners entered the boat and were rowed back to
Shelter Island, where they passed another night at the Sylvester manor-
house. Having resolved not to visit any more Long Island villages, con-
fident it would do more harm than good, they embarked next day on their
return voyage to New York.
Some troops were raised in Connecticut at once, and under the com-
mand of Fitz John Winthrop stationed at Southold. The winter passed
by without incident, but in March, 1674, provisions were needed for the
fort, and Governor Colve sent a party of soldiers to collect them from
Sylvester at Shelter Island, whose bond was now due. The real purpose of
this expedition was to bring the refractory towns into subjection ; but
armed men were hurried from Southampton and Easthampton to the
defense of Southold, and Captain Winthrop was there with his Connecti-
cut auxiliaries. Sylvester promptly delivered his stipulated provisions to
the Dutch officers on demand and next morning he seems to have been
with the Dutch flotilla before Southold, for the records state that he was
the chosen ambassador sent to demand the surrender of that town. The
answer which he carried back was to the effect that the Dutch commander
would be received " as a person that disturbs his Majesty's subjects." A
few shots were exchanged after this, but the strength of the English was
too apparent for a serious attack. The Dutch retired in disgust, and steered
their vessel in the direction of New York. The struggle for supremacy in
that locality between the two fighting nations ended with this adventure.
Peace was proclaimed in Europe, and New York restored again to the Eng-
lish. When Sir Edmond Andros came into the government he found three
of the eastern towns on Long Island quite firm in their intended secession
from New York. They announced themselves as belonging to Connecti-
cut. Whereupon Andros took immediate steps to bring them to order.
He wrote to Winthrop, advising him " to disabuse his would-be subordin-
ates of their notion ; " and he appears to have visited Southold and
Shelter Island in person. On his return to the metropolis he wrote to
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
377
Winthrop that everything was satisfactorily arranged. The next year,
1675, Andros was in Southold again on the occasion of his expedition to
Saybrook, and there is reason to believe that he also went to Shelter
Island for a day or two.
Sylvester at that time had two charming daughters just blossoming
into womanhood. There had been no schools on Shelter Island, but the
best tutors had been employed for his children, and these young women
were as thoroughly educated as if they
had lived in England, and they were
extremely beautiful. Grissell, the elder,
was engaged to a wealthy young En-
glishman, Latimer Sampson, chief pro-
prietor of the large estate now known
as Lloyd's Neck. Smitten with
consumption, he sailed by orders
of his physician for a warmer
climate ; but he died on
the voyage and was bu-
HISTORIC STONE BRIDGE, AND SITE OF ANCIENT INDIAN VILLAGE.
ried at sea, leaving by will all his possessions to his beloved Grissell.
Tradition has handed along a touching and romantic account of the final
parting of the lovers on the old stone bridge, with its cyclopean terrace-
wall, just to the right of the manor-house, and names and dates which
make the heart beat are carved upon the rough-hewn stone steps,
built in the wall by the slaves of the estate to connect the bridge with
the water's edge, forming the ancient landing-place. But the story is no
myth. The will of Latimer Sampson was recorded by Matthias Nicolls,
Vol. XVIII.— No. 5.-26
378
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
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QUITCLAIM DEED OF HORSENECK TO JAMES LLOYD, HUSBAND OF GRISSELL SYLVESTER,
the secretary of the province, in 1674, and I now hold a fac-simile of it in
my hand. Some two years later Grissell was married to James Lloyd, of
Boston, and among her descendants are the Hillhouses and Woolseys of
New Haven, branches of the Onderdoncks, Livingstons and Brownes of
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
379
2/4, fJESfjeeesst** ,
[uAx
&&£&. «u
LrtsteTJ Uyfutstcr
SUBSEQUENTLY ERECTED INTO THE "MANOR OF QUEEN'S VILLAGE," NOW KNOWN AS LLOYD'S NECK.
New York, and the Lloyds and other prominent families of Boston. As
the lady was a minor, it seemed advisable that all the parties who were
or could become interested in the estate of her father, Nathaniel Sylves-
ter, should unite in a quitclaim deed of the Latimer Sampson property —
3S0 THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
sisters and brothers, trustees, officials, etc. This unique document is pre-
served so perfectly with its signatures and seals that we reproduce it in
full for the benefit of our antiquarian readers. Grissell Sylvester, after
becoming Mrs. Lloyd, removed to Boston. Lloyd's Neck, under Governor
Dongan, was erected into the " Manor of Queen's Village," and in the
course of years was the residence of her son, Henry Lloyd, who married
a daughter of John Nelson, of Boston.
The old stone steps, to which reference is made, seem to be saturated
through and through with tender memories ; here the Southwicks landed,
and here Mary Dyer waved her last farewell to those who had befriended
her ; here Nathaniel Sylvester greeted George Fox, and Lewis Morris, and
Edmundson, Winthrop, Sir Edmund Andros, and a score of other
notables. And subsequently, as the successive proprietors of the manor
maintained a high-bred and courtly hospitality, these historic steps were
trodden from time to time by illustrious personages from both sides of
the Atlantic. Governor Dongan passed over them, and so did many of
the New York governors of the last century, not excepting John Jay.
The marriage of Patience Sylvester, the sister of Mrs. Lloyd, was also
an exceptionally romantic affair. Among the exiled Huguenots of the
period was Benjamin L'Hommedieu, who settled in Southold. There
being no church on Shelter Island, the Sylvester family were accustomed
to attend Sabbath worship in Southold. One pleasant Sunday morning
soon after his arrival, L'Hommedieu was attracted by an extremely novel
object moving over the sparkling waters of the bay. As it came nearer
he observed two remarkably handsome young women in a barge, with a
canopy over it, and six negro slaves rowing it. The vision haunted him.
He went to church that morning, and, despite Puritanical customs, per-
mitted his eyes to remain open during prayer. The story is so like every
other love story that it is hardly necessary to say that his French heart
was hopelessly lost before the preacher had reached " Amen " in his
benediction. The sequel was a beautiful wedding, and Miss Patience
Sylvester was henceforward Mrs. L'Hommedieu.
An anecdote is told of this sweet lady that will bear repeating. She
was asked on one occasion by some envious friend if she was not very
proud of her riches, naming quite a list of her possessions in detail. Her
reply came with emphatic sincerity, " No, I am not proud of my father's
ships, nor of our fine linen, and handsome silverware, and costly dresses ;
but I am proud of one thing — I know how to spin."
The descendants of Mrs. Patience L'Hommedieu have been as numer-
ous and notable as those of her sister, Mrs. Lloyd. Her son, Benjamin
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
38
L'Hommedieu, married Martha Bourne; and his son, Ezra L'Hommedieu
— who married Mary Catharine, daughter of NicoJl Havens — was one of
the most eminent lawyers in the country, and many years in Congress.
He bought the Sylvester homestead, and made the place his permanent
home. It passed from him to his daughter, Mary Catharine, who married
Samuel S. Gardiner, a descendant of the founder of the manor of Gardi-
ner's Island, and brother of Hon. David Gardiner, one of the six gentle-
men killed in 1844 by the explosion of a gun on the steamer Princeton,
near Mount Vernon, while on a pleasure trip down the Potomac, by in-
vitation of the President. During Gardiner's life-time this historic prop-
erty was popularly known as the " Gardiner Estate." At his death it
went to his daughters — he had no sons —
two of whom married Professor E. N. Hors-
ford, of Cambridge. Later on, in the set-
tlement of the estate, it passed into the
hands of Professor Horsford, whose chil-
dren are the lineal descendants of Nathaniel
and Grissell Brinley Sylvester, through the
L'Hommedieu line.
Nathaniel Sylvester had five sons, and
he bequeathed Shelter Island to them in
equal parts ; his large accumulations of
property elsewhere were wisely distributed.
He made his " endeared wife " his principal
executor, together with his brother-in-law,
Francis Brinley, his son-in-law, James Lloyd,
Isaac Arnold, Lewis Morris, and Daniel
Gould. Three of his sons died without
issue, and their interests went to Giles, the eldest son, who thus
became proprietor of four-fifths of the island, his brother Nathaniel,
who lived in Newport, owning the remaining one-fifth. But Giles left no
children, and by will his property went one-third to his widow, and the
remainder and larger part, embracing Sachem Neck, the southern end of
the island, to his friend William Nicolls, patentee of 90,000 acres at Islip,
whose wife was a daughter of Jeremias Van Rensselaer and Maria Van
Cortlandt, and who figured prominently in the public affairs of New York
for a quarter of a century. Jonathan Havens married their daughter
Catharine and built an imposing mansion on Shelter Island ; he was the
father of Nicoll Havens (whose daughter was Mrs. Ezra L'Hommedieu)
and grandfather of the statesman, Hon. Jonathan Nicoll Havens. The
SAMUEL S. GARDINER.
382
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
Nicolls property has continued in the Nicolls family through successive
generations, and is still in their possession.'*
William Nicolls was the only son of Matthias Nicolls, the first secretary
of the province of New York, and, like his father, was immensely rich and
esteemed an aristocrat. He was, likewise, an able lawyer, and was made
attorney-general of the pro-
vince in 1687, at the age of
thirty-one. He was in the
commission of the peace,
and, refusing to surrender his
authority under Jacob
Leisler's edict in 1689, was
imprisoned thirteen months.
By the new governor from
England (Sloughter) he was
released and appointed to
the privy council. Sent to
England in 1695 to represent
the affairs of the colony to
the king, his vessel was cap-
tured by the French, and he
lay for several months in a
Paris prison, but finally
reached Whitehall. In the
overturn of politics in New
York on the question of
Leisler, Nicolls was one of
the counselors of Governor
Fletcher, who was accused
of sharing in the spoils of
ocean robbery. Lord Bello-
mont, in 1698, wrote to the
lords of trade that Nicolls
was Fletcher's chief broker
in the matter of protections, and had a place of rendezvous with pirates on
the Long Island shore. These charges were without foundation, but they
* In a memorandum left by lion. John Watts, senior, is the following paragraph: "As my
own father had added an s to his name (making Watt Watts), for what reason I have never heard,
Mr. Nicolls ( William) left the s out of his name, calling himself, as all his descendants have done,
Nicoll." — Mrs. Lamb's History of the City of New York, i., 507.
SUNSET ROCK.
[Engraved frotn a photograph.}
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND 383
•may have given rise to many of the weird legends which have been handed
along by the slave population of Shelter Island, where Nicolls resided a part
of each year. " Sunset Rock," so named for having been the resort, formerly,
of the Shelter Island ladies to watch the sun in its going down, reciting
poetry and singing songs meanwhile, is pointed out as near the spot where
the notorious Kidd buried his ill-gotten treasures. The story goes, that he
came with twenty men to perform the work, and when it was done he cut
off all their heads to prevent their telling anybody about it. The slaves
and the common people on the island fully believed that every dark night
or in a fog (for a century or more) twenty headless men might have been
seen in blue coats, with their heads under their arms, guarding the hidden
treasures. These superstitious people used to venture in that direction far
enough to espy the light, and then run away in terror. Some of the more
courageous tried many times, in the bright daylight, to dig for the gold,
but no sooner would they get their crowbars under the rock than some
unearthly noise would drive them away. William Nicolls is best remem-
bered by his vigorous work in the New York legislature in the early part
of the eighteenth century. He was a member of the assembly twenty-one
years and its speaker sixteen years. He died in 1722. He bequeathed his
Sachem Neck estate on Shelter Island to his son William, who was speaker
of the assembly for many years, as his father had been before him.
The Sylvester homestead descended to Brinley Sylvester, the son of
Nathaniel of Newport, who came to dwell in the home of his fathers. His
first business was to build the new mansion as before mentioned, and im-
prove the property generally. He was extravagant in his expenditures,
and lived in a style of grandeur exceeding all his predecessors. He pre-
sided over his rich and extensive plantations with the dignity of a lord,
and on every side there was costly and showy display. He was polished
in his manners, scholarly in his tastes, hospitable, generous even to reckless-
ness. On the death of Brinley Sylvester, without sons, his eldest daughter
Mary, who had married Thomas Dering, a merchant of Boston, inherited
the family domain, and from them it descended to their son, General Syl-
vester Dering. Henry Dering, brother of the general, built a commodi-
ous house on Shelter Island, overlooking the sea. The old approach to
the Sylvester mansion-house was through an avenue of cherry trees about
sixty feet broad. Similar avenues were planted in front of Henry Dering's
house, and of that built by Ezra L'Hommedieu, prior to his purchase of
the Sylvester mansion on the death of General Sylvester Dering.
Until about 1735 the Sylvesters always kept a chaplain at the island,
or, as he was called by the people, a priest. During several of the early
3*4
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAM)
3«5
decades there was but one family on the island, with their dependents and
Indian neighbors. In 1730, seventy-eight years after its settlement by
Sylvester, a quasi town organization was formed, its male inhabitants of
full age at the time numbering twenty. Five of these bore the name of
Havens. In 1733
they built a little
Presbyterian meet-
ing-house, the
money for which
was largely given
by the wealthy
land-holders. Brin-
ley Sylvester con-
tributed more than
$6,000. He also
gave the first min-
ister, Rev. William
Adams, a home in
his house until his
death in 1752, after
which Mr. Adams
continued for
many years to re-
side in the family
of Mrs. Bering.
The pulpit, stairs,
sounding board
and some of the
pews were brought
from the Rutgers
Street Church in
New York, and
placed in the little
edifice. Whitfield
preached in it in
1764, and also to
a large concourse of people in the grounds of the mansion. He was
the guest of the Derings for some days, and afterward corresponded with
them. The Derings intermarried with the Nicoll family. They were
noted far and wide for their generous hospitality.
VIEW FROM FRONT OF HENRY DERING's HOME.
3$6
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
The successor of the little church was built in 1815. The timber for it
was obtained in a singular manner. A terrible September gale swept
over the island and prostrated an old and valuable grove of stately locust
trees on General Dering's estate. These he offered as a free gift for the
frame of the edifice, which was built, according to the fashion of the times,
with great high-backed square pews. It was remodeled and enlarged in
1858, and a belfry was
then built. The ground
was originally donated by
Jonathan Havens.
During the period im-
mediately prior to the
Revolution, there were
not less than two hundred
negro slaves on the island.
They have gradually dwin-
dled away, but many of
their descendants remain,
and are, as a rule, indus-
trious and respected. The
Derings fled, during the
Revolutionary War, to
Middletown, Connecticut,
and the island was, during
a long time, at the mercy
of the British. Their
fleets for three years win-
tered in Gardiner's Bay.
The wood on the island
was felled and carried off,
as well as the cattle and
the crops. " Hay Beach
Point" received its name
from having been the con-
venient place for loading the confiscated hay, wood, and grain upon their
boats. High grounds on the northeastern side of the island are still
pointed out as the camping-place of the British soldiers, and on one bluff
the stones mark the spot where many were buried.
The site of one of the most important Indian villages on the island is
but a few rods distant from the rear of the Sylvester mansion, and the
ONE OF THE LAST OF THE SLAVES ON THE SYLVESTER MANOR.
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
3X7
elevation seems to be a solid mound of oyster shells and savage parapher-
nalia ; it may be seen just in the background of the sketch of the old stone
bridge. One of the curiosities of the island is a footprint in the rock just
outside the entrance gate to the grounds. The tradition is that it was
made by the last chief of the Montauks, who in despair took three long
steps, this one on Shelter Island, one at Orient Point, and the third at
Montauk, then jumped into the ocean. The Shelter Island footprint is
that of the right foot, and thus marks his starting place ; it is confidently
asserted by the common people that it will fit the right foot of any one
from a child to a giant.
The history of the purchase of lands, the erection of hotels and villa resi-
dences, and the transformation of a portion of Shelter Island into one of the
most delightful watering-places
on this continent is no part of
the purpose of this paper. The
villas may continue to multiply,
and the triumphs of modern do-
mestic architecture prove a
never-ending surprise and de-
light, but the historic home
which has made all these things
possible will not be overshad-
owed in its delightful seclusion.
It touches the past gently, and
while the present estate prob-
ably does not now include more
than two square miles, it still,
in many of its aspects, is fully equal to the fifteen of its first proprietor.
It is scarcely fifty years since the first public highway was laid out on
the island ; now there are beautiful drives in every direction. Greenport
and the ferry are modern luxuries of far more recent date than the first
roads. One of the natural curiosities of the island is a fresh-water pond
covering thirty acres, and about sixty feet deep ; it is lower than the
level of the sea, and has no visible outlet.
An appropriate monument has recently been erected to Nathaniel Syl-
vester by his descendants, on the family estate, and the cemetery and
grove where it stands is called Woodstock from its threads of relationship
to the ancient English manor of Woodstock, where Charles II. was con-
cealed in his flight.
The historic mansion has its haunted chamber, but just precisely
THE TORTOISE SHELL SNUFF BOX.
388
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND
another
— one o
what sort of spirits come to wake
its occupants in the dead of night,
with loud rappings in one of its
corner closets, has never been sat-
isfactorily explained. The clanking
of chains sometimes attends these
nocturnal disturbances. The
ghosts, curiously enough, never
appear to any of the family kin ;
they exhibit a decided preference
for stranger guests. The weird
ghost stories and legends which
have been perpetuated by the de-
scendants of the old servants of
the families would fill a volume ;
this class of people seem to have
been superstitious in the extreme.
On one occasion a quaint looking-
glass found stored away in the
attic was exhumed and hung on
the wall of one of the bed-rooms.
It so happened that this room was
soon afterward occupied by an old
nurse of the family. Some weeks
passed by, when it accidentally
came to the knowledge of the
household that the woman was
sleeping at night with her head
entirely covered with the bed-
clothes. On being asked the
reason, she said the looking-glass
was haunted — that every night,
at midnight, some of the ladies
who had been reflected in -it years
and years ago came back to see who
was in the room where it hung !
The delusion was such a pretty
one that the woman was given
apartment and the haunted looking-glass held dear for its portraits
f which may be seen in the sketch ; and unless some of the curious
I HE HAUNTED LOOKING-GLASS.
\ Engraved from a photograph.']
THE MANOR OF SHELTER ISLAND 389
damsels of the past break it in peering into the present, it will doubtless be
handed along to posterity as a priceless treasure. The dwelling is filled
with heirlooms of the most captivating character, keepsakes from ancestors
on many a well-known tree, that have descended through the centuries.
The Brinleys of Cromwell memory are here represented by relics ; a tor-
toise shell snuff-box with heads, in silver, of William and Mary was a gift
nearly two hundred years ago to one of the Sylvesters ; the only original
letter known to exist, in the handwriting of Lion Gardiner, the founder of
the manor of Gardiner's Island, is here preserved ; and we might go on in-
definitely had we the space for a catalogue. The main part of the house is
large and roomy. The entrance hall is patterned after those of a former
century, and the stairs are unique in construction. Few dwellings in
America have welcomed more celebrities under its roof, and there are none
extant more rich in varied and romantic associations. The suggestive lines
of the poet Jebb strike the chord which already vibrates:
" Isle in a sister's arms so gently wound,
Home of a loyal race from days of old ;
In thee Sylvester's soul still breathes around,
True chivalry and kindness never cold —
As when the hopeless fled for hope to thee,
Inviolate, twice girdled by the sea."
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
OR
THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHURCH AND STATE IN THE UNITED STATES
Part II
THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS
The Federal Constitution did not abolish the union of church and state
where it previously existed, nor does it forbid any of the states to
establish a religion or to favor a particular church. It leaves them free to
deal with religion as they please, provided only they do not deprive any
American citizen of his right to worship God according to his conscience.
It does not say : " No State shall make any law respecting an establish-
ment of religion;" nor: " Neither Congress nor any State," but simply:
" Congress shall make no law," etc. The states retained every power, ju-
risdiction and right which they had before, except those only which
they delegated to the Congress of the United States, or the departments
of the Federal government. In the language of the Tenth Amendment,
'•The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively, or to
the people." Hence, as Justice Story says, " The whole power over the
subject of religion is left exclusively to the state governments, to be acted
upon according to their sense of justice and the state constitutions." The
states are sovereign within the limits of the supreme sovereignty of the
general government, which is confined to a specified number of depart-
ments of general national interest, such as army and navy, diplomatic
intercourse, post-office, coinage of money, disposal of public lands, and the
government of territories.
In New York and Virginia the union of church and state was abolished
before the formation of the Federal Constitution ; but in other states it con-
tinued for many years afterward, though without persecution. Massachu-
setts and Connecticut retained and exercised the power of taxing the people
for the support of the Congregational Church, and when it was finally abol-
ished, many good and intelligent people feared disastrous consequences for
the fate of religion, but their fears were happily disappointed by the result.
In Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Maryland,
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 391
and New Jersey, atheists and such as deny " a future state of reward and
punishment " are excluded from public offices, and blasphemy is subject to
punishment.* In Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee, clergy-
men are excluded from civil offices and the legislature, on account of their
ecclesiastical functions. The constitution of New Hampshire empowers
the legislature to authorize towns, parishes and religious societies to make
adequate provision, at their own expense, for the support of public Protes-
tant worship, but not to tax those of other sects or denominations. An
attempt was made in 1876 to amend this article by striking out the word
Protestant, but it failed. f
It is remarkable, however, that after the adoption of the Federal Con-
stitution no attempt has been made to establish a religion, except in the
Mormon Territory of Utah. Most of the more recent state constitu-
tions expressly guarantee religious liberty to the full extent of the First
Amendment, and in similar language.
We give a few specimens :
The constitution of Illinois (II., 3) declares that "the free exercise and
enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination,
shall forever be guaranteed, and no person shall be denied any civil or
political right, privilege or capacity on account of his religious opinions,"
and that " no person shall be required to attend or support any ministry or
place of worship against his consent, nor shall any preference be given by
law to any denomination or mode of worship."
The constitution of Iowa (I., 3, 4) declares that " the general assembly
shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof ; nor shall any person be compelled to attend any
place of worship, pay tithes, taxes, or other rates for building or repairing
places of worship, or the maintenance of any minister or ministry. No
religious test shall be required as a qualification for any orifice or public trust,
and no person shall be deprived of any of his rights, privileges or capac-
ities, or disqualified from the performance of any of his public or private
duties, or rendered incompetent to give evidence in any court of law or
equity, in consequence of his opinion on the subject of religion."
Similar provisions are made in the constitutions of Alabama, Califor-
nia, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland,
Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New
* See the constitutional provisions of these states in Cooley's Constitutional Limitations, p.
579, note. In the year 1887 a blasphemer was punished in New Jersey, in spite of Ingersoll's.
defense.
f Cooley, p. 580, note 2.
39- THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
York. Oregon, Texas, and other states, but usually with an express cau-
tion against licentiousness and immoral practices. *
Judge Cooley enumerates five points which are not lawful under any of
the American constitutions: I. " Any law respecting an establishment of
religion." 2. " Compulsory support, by taxation or otherwise, of religion."
3. " Compulsory attendance upon religious worship." 4. " Restraints
upon the free exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience."
5. " Restraints upon the expression of religious belief." f
The exceptions are remnants of older ideas, and cannot resist the force
of modern progress.
It is a serious question whether the constitutions of all the states
should not be so amended — if necessary — as to prevent the appropriation
of public money for sectarian purposes. Such appropriations have been
made occasionally by the legislature and the city government of New York
in favor of the Roman Catholics, owing to the political influence of the
large Irish vote. Such appropriations are acts of injustice to the Protestant
population, which, owing to its greater wealth, bears the main burden of
taxation. The state must, above all things, be just, and support either all
or none of the religious denominations.
The case of Mormonism is altogether abnormal and irreconcilable with
the genius of American institutions. In that system politics and religion
are identified, and polygamy is sanctioned by religion, as in Mohammedan-
ism. This is the reason why the Territory of Utah, notwithstanding its
constitutional number of inhabitants, has not yet been admitted into the
family of independent states. The general government cannot attack the
religion of the Mormons, as a religion, but it can forbid polygamy as a social
institution, inconsistent with our western civilization, and the Supreme
Court has decided in favor of the constitutionality of such prohibition by
Congress. The Mormons must give up this part of their religion, or emi-
grate.
THE EFFECT OF THE CONSTITUTION UPON THE CREEDS.
The ancient or oecumenical creeds (the Apostles', the Nicene, and the
Athanasian) are silent on the relation of church and state, and leave per-
fect freedom on the subject, which lies outside of the articles of faith
necessary to salvation.
But some Protestant confessions of faith, framed in the Reformation
period, when church and state were closely interwoven, ascribe to the
civil magistrate ecclesiastical powers and duties which are Erastian in
* See Cooley, Constitutional Limitations, ch. xiii. , p. 579. \ L. c. p. 580.
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 393
principle and entirely inconsistent with the freedom of the church. Hence
changes in the political articles of those confessions became necessary.
The Presbyterian Church took the lead in this progress even long
before the American Revolution. The synod of Philadelphia, convened
September 19, 1729, adopted the Westminster standards of 1647, with a
liberal construction and with the express exemption of " some clauses in
the XXth and XXIIId chapters of the Confession in any such sense as to
imply that the civil magistrate hath a controlling power over synods
with respect to the exercise of their ministerial authority, or power to
persecute any for their religion.'" * After the revolutionary war, the United
Synod of Philadelphia and New York met at Philadelphia, May 28, 1787
(at the same time and in the same place as the convention which framed
the Federal Constitution), and proposed important alterations in the West-
minster Confession, chapters XX. (closing paragraph), XXIII., 3, and
XXXI., 1, 2, so as to eliminate the principle of state-churchism and relig-
ious persecution, and to proclaim the religious liberty and equality of all
Christian denominations. These alterations were formally adopted by the
Joint Synod at Philadelphia, May 28, 1788, and have been faithfully ad-
hered to by the large body of the Presbyterian Church in America. They
are as follows :
Original Text, 1647. American Text, 1788.
Ch. XXIII. 3.— Of the Civil Magistrate. Ch. XXIII. 3.— Of the Civil Magistrate.
The civil magistrate may not assume to him- Civil magistrates may not assume to them-
self the administration of the Word and Sacra- selves the administration of the Word and Sacra-
ments, or the power of the keys of the kingdom ments,1 or the power of the keys of the king-
of heaven ; l yet he hath authority, and it is his dom of heaven ;2 or, in the least, interfere in
duty to take order, that unity and peace be matters of faith. 3 Yet, as nursing fathers, it
preserved in the Church, that the truth of God is the duty of civil magistrates to protect the
be kept pure and entire, that all blasphemies Church of our common Lord, without giving
and heresies be suppressed, all corruptions and the preference to any denomination of Chris-
abuses in worship and discipline prevented or tians above the rest, in such a manner that all
reformed ; and all the ordinances of God duly ecclesiastical persons whatever shall enjoy the
settled, adminstered and observed. 2 For the full, free, and unquestioned liberty of discharg-
better effecting whereof he hath power to call ing every part of their sacred functions without
synods, to be present at them, and to provide violence or danger. 4 And as Jesus Christ hath
appointed a regular government and discipline
2 Chron. xxvi. 18; Matt, xviii. 17; xvi. 19 ;
in his Church, no law of any commonwealth
1 Cor. xii. 28, 29; Eph. iv. 11, 12; 1 Cor. iv. 1, should interfere with> let> or hinder the due
2 ; Rom. x. 15 ; Heb. v. 4.
2 Isa. xlix. 23 ; Psa. exxii. 9; Ezra, vii. 23- 1 2 Chron. xxvi. 18.
28; Lev. xxiv. 16; Deut. xiii. 5, 6, 12; 2 Kings, 2 Matt. xvi. 19 ; 1 Cor. iv. 1, 2.
.xviii. 4; 1 Chron. xiii. 1-9; 2 Kings, xxiii. 1-26; 3 John, xviii. 36 ; Mai. ii. 7 ; Acts, v. 29,
2, Chron. xv. 12, 13. 4 Isa. xlix. 23.
* Moore's Presbyterian Digest, Philadelphia, second ed., 1873, pp. 4 et seq.
Vol. XVIII.— No. 5.-26
394
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY
Original Text. 1647. — Continued.
that whatsoever is transacted in them be accord-
ing to the mind of God. ;
American Text, 17SS. — Continued.
exercise thereof among the voluntary members
of any denomination of Christians, according
to their own profession and belief. 1 It is the
duty of civil magistrates to protect the person
and good name of all their people, in such an
effectual manner as that no person be suffered,
either upon pretense of religion or infidelity, to
offer any indignity, violence, abuse, or injury
to any other person whatsoever, and to take
order that all religious and ecclesiastical assem-
blies be held without molestation or disturb-
Ch. XXXI.— Of Synods and C(
.'lis.
For the better government and further edifi-
cation of the church, there ought to be such
assemblies as are commonly called synods or
councils. "
II. As magistrates may lawfully call a synod
of ministers and other fit persons to consult
and advise with about matters of religion ; s so
if magistrates be open enemies to the church,
the ministers of Christ, of themselves, by virtue
of their office ; or they, with other fit persons,
upon delegation from their churches, may meet
together in such assemblies.4
1 2 Chron. xix. S-11 ; chaps, xxix. and xxx. ;
Matt. ii. 4, 5.
8 Acts, xv. 2, 4, 6.
3 Isa. xlix. 23 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1,2; 2 Chron.
xix. S-12; chaps, xxix. and xxx.; Matt. ii. 4, 5;
Prov. xi. 14. 4 Acts, xv. 2, 4, 22, 23, 25.
Ch. XXXI. — Of Synods and Councils.
For the better government and further edifi-
cation of the church, there ought to be such
assemblies as are commonly called synods or
councils. a And it belongeth to the overseers
and other rulers of the particular churches, by
virtue of their office, and the power which
Christ hath given them for edification, and not
for destruction, to appoint such assemblies ; and.
to convene together in them, as often as they
shall judge it expedient for the good of the
church.4
1 Psa. cv. 15 ; Acts, xviii. 14, 15, 16.
2 2 Sam. xxiii. 3 ; 1 Tim. ii. 1 ; Rom. xiii. 4.
'■ Acts, xv. 2, 4, 6.
4 Acts, XV. 22, 23, 25.
In ch. xx., § 4, the last sentence, " and by the power of che civil magis-
trate'" was omitted, so as to read, "they [the offenders] may lawfully be
called to account, and proceeded against by the censures of the Church.''
The only change made in the Larger Catechism was the striking out of
the words "tolerating a false religion," among the sins forbidden in the
Second Commandment (Quest. 109).
The example set by the Presbyterian Church in the United States was
followed by the Protestant Episcopal Church, which was organized as a
distinct communion in consequence of the separation from the Crown and
Church of England in 1785. At first this church made radical changes in
her liturgy and reduced the Thirty-nine Articles to twenty, and afterward
THE AMERICAN CHAPTER IN CHURCH HISTORY 395
to seventeen, and omitted the Nicene and Athanasian creeds.* But the
" Proposed Book" of 1786 failed to give satisfaction and was opposed by
the English bishops. The General Convention at Trenton, New Jersey,
September 8-12, 1801, adopted the Thirty-nine Articles, yet with the omis-
sion of the Athanasian Creed in Article VIII., and of Article XXXVII. , on
the Powers of the Civil Magistrate, which asserts in the first paragraph that
" The Queen's [King's] Majesty hath the chief power in this realm of England and other of
her [his] dominions, unto whom the chief government of all estates of this realm, whether they be
ecclesiastical or civil, in all causes doth appertain, and it is not, nor ought to be subject to any for-
eign jurisdiction."
For this first section in Article XXXVII. the following was substituted :
' The power of the civil magistrate extendeth to all men, as well clergy as laity, in all things
temporal ; but hath no authority in things purely spiritual. And we hold it to be the duty of all
men who are professors of the gospel, to pay respectful obedience to the civil authority, regularly
and legitimately constituted."
As to the Methodists, who are the most numerous body of Protestant
Christians in the United States, they had previously disowned the political
articles of the Church of England by adopting the abridgment of John
Wesley, who in 1784 had reduced the Thirty-nine Articles to twenty-five.
The Lutheran Formula of Concord (1576) excludes the Anabaptists
from toleration " in the church and in the state." f But this prohibition
has lost its force even in Germany and in Scandinavia, where it used to be
rigidly enforced.
The Baptists and Quakers always protested against the union of
church and state, and intolerance.
The independence of the church from the state is universally adopted,
and religious persecution universally condemned, even by the most ortho-
dox and bigoted of our churches.
* Schaff's Creeds of Christendom, III., 807, sqq.
f " Anabaptists . . . talem doctrinam profitentur quce neque in Ecclesia neque, in pohtia
[Germ. ed.;noch in der Polizei und weltlichem Regiment], neque in ceconomia [Haushaltung] tote-
rat i potest." Epitome, Art. XII. See Schaff, /. c., III. 173.
HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1794
Thirty years ago, an aged Clinton lady,* talking with the elders of our
generation, was wont to tell with special zest her recollection of the first
of July, 1794. She remembered to have seen, on that day, a gay proces-
sion pass her father's house, just west of Clinton. A company of militia
cavalry, clad in the blue and buff of the old Continentals, and commanded
by handsome Captain George Kirkland, led the way. Behind them rode
ladies and gentlemen, with one in the uniform of a Revolutionary general.
The company moved westward, along the forest road ; and, as she after-
ward learned, escorted Baron Steuben to lay the corner-stone of Hamilton
Oneida Academy. Of the ceremony of which this was the prelude, no
account has been handed down. The actors and spectators alike have
gone, leaving the story in its details untold. But standing on the hillside
where they stood nearly a century ago, we may, at least in general outline,
picture the scene. The July sun is shining brightly over the wooded hills
of the Oneidas ; and, in the valley, Clinton, only a hamlet, lies in quiet.
Upon a hill, a mile and a half from the village, where the steep ascent
softens almost to a plain, in a small clearing amid the elms and hemlocks
and maples of the forest, an unwonted throng is gathered. Scattered on
the outskirts are the stalwart braves of the Oneidas, faithful friends of the
missionary and the colonies. Within these are the citizens of Clinton and
its vicinity, who have so manfully aided the missionary in his labors. Drawn
up on one side in military array are the soldiers ; the missionary hero,
Samuel Kirkland, Baron Steuben, Skenondoa, the Christian chief of the
Oneidas, and Kirkland's family and personal friends, occupy the position
nearest the spot where the stone is to be laid. The hum of conversation
ceases as Dominie Kirkland offers a simple prayer that the institution,
whose beginning they are about to witness, may live and prosper with the
favor of God. Then Baron Steuben, who had trained the soldiers of
liberty, steps forward and does his part in founding a school to train the
coming generations to preserve their heritage. He declares the stone
fitted to its purpose, and dedicates the academy to religion and truth,
for the service of all who in the future shall come within its walls.
It was a scene worthy fuller remembrance. In it all there stood pre-
eminent the figure of one man, the missionary himself, the dream of whose
life was just now beginning to be realized. The founder of Hamilton
* Mrs. Lucas, daughter of Eli Bristol.
HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1 794 397
Oneida Academy was worthy to mark the way for the toil and suffering
of coming students ; the institution was the practical outgrowth of the
training and consecrated purposes of the founder's entire life.
Samuel Kiikland was born on the 1st of December, 1741. He is first
heard of at the Rev. Dr. Wheelock's school in Lebanon, where he was ad-
mired and respected by all who knew him. At the age of twenty-one he
entered Princeton College; but filled with great zeal to begin his work, he
left college during his Senior year and began his life as an Indian mission-
ary. After two years of toilsome and dangerous labor among the Senecas,
he returned to the civilized world and was ordained to the Gospel ministry.
On the day of his ordination he received a commission from the " Honor-
able Society in Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge," as an In-
dian missionary. He is supposed to have been the missionary of all the
tribes of the Iroquois ; but, owing either to their central position or good
moral character, he made his home among the Oneidas. Here, year after
year, he worked. When the Revolution broke out, he exerted his influence
to prevent the Oneidas from taking up arms for the English, as the other
Iroquois tribes had done, and with the aid of Skenondoa he succeeded in
keeping the greater part of this tribe steadfast for the American cause.
He thus gained consideration and influence which were afterward of great
service to him in his plans for the academy.
Mr. Kirkland's effort was not only to Christianize the Indian, but to
educate, to civilize him, to make him the equal of the white man. He
believed that the Indian could be educated and civilized ; and he deter-
mined, whatever the difficulties in the way, to undertake it. He had, a
short time before, presented to a board of commissioners at Boston a
" Plan for the Education of the Indian," which he now began to follow.
He established four small schools among the Oneidas. But these were
not enough ; they only taught the rudiments of the common branches.
The Indians, to Kirkland's thought, should go farther ; some from among
them shou'ld be disciplined to be themselves teachers and spiritual leaders.
Accordingly an effort was made to build a higher school, one that would
be of advantage to both the red man and the white man. The Indians
were to be selected from the neighboring tribes and " instructed in the
principles of human nature, in the history of civil society, so as to be able
to discern the difference between a state of nature and a state of civilization,
and know what it is that makes one nation differ from another in wealth,
power, and happiness; and in the principles of natural religion, the moral
precepts and the more plain and express doctrines of Christianity."*
* Kirkland's " Plan of Education for the Indians."
: - HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1 794
How was the money for such a project to be raised ? The State of
New York and the Indians conjointly had given to Kirkland four thou-
sand seven hundred and sixty acres of land; but this was not sufficient to
build an academy, for land at that time was of little value in the mar-
ket. Clinton had been settled hardly five years, and the inhabitants of the
region thereabouts had little, if any, ready money. Mr. Kirkland, how-
ever, was not to be deterred by such obstacles. He determined, as soon
as an opportunity presented, to take a trip to various parts of the State to
see what could be done in regard to his favorite scheme.
In the month of October, 1792, while riding through the woods one
Sunday morning, he was struck in the eye by a branch of a tree. It was
a painful wound which might prove dangerous if not attended to ; and
he was prevailed upon to visit Albany and New York to consult the ocu-
lists. He went willingly, as this would give him the desired opportunity
to push forward his educational plan. At Albany he saw the governor
and the regents of the University. He applied to the board for a charter
for his academy, and on the 29th of January, 1793, it was granted. The
board appointed as trustees Alexander Hamilton, John Lansing, Egbert
Benson, Dan Bradley, Eli Bristoll, Erastus Clark, James Dean, Moses
Foote, Thomas R. Gould, Sewal Hopkins, Michael Myers, Jonas Piatt,
Jedediah Sanger, John Sergeant, Timothy Tuttle and Samuel Wells— all
men of note and influence. Mr. Kirkland met Alexander Hamilton, who
took unusual interest in his efforts, and was of such assistance that Mr.
Kirkland thought it but a fitting compliment to call the institution Hamil-
ton Oneida Academy. He passed on to Philadelphia and saw President
Washington, who expressed himself as warmly in favor of the scheme.
When he returned from his trip he began to circulate his subscription
paper. He headed it with a subscription of ten pounds in money and
" three hundred acres of land to be leased and the proceeds applied to the
support of a competent instructor." With great earnestness he tried to
impress on the minds of the citizens the necessity for such an academy
and the advantages to be gained from it. He so stirred the hearts of the
people that nearly every one gave something from his scanty store, sac-
rificing comfort and pleasure that they might aid the earnest missionary
in his work. Nothing could better show the character of the people and
the sacrifices they made than the subscription list itself, which now, yel-
low with age, hangs carefully framed in the memorial hall of the college.
The names which read so humbly are those of the hardy, earnest, God-
fearing pioneers of central New York. They came, many of them, to
positions of prominence ; they wielded no little influence, and the history
HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1 794 399
of Oneida County holds them in honored memory. As the list shows,
they gave not only money but time ; subscriptions were payable in lumber,
in glass and nails, in grain and blacksmith's work ; but in one way or an-
other the people universally contributed.
After spending about a year in gathering funds and making prepara-
tions, the corner-stone was laid. With the combined efforts of the neigh-
borhood the frame was raised and the roof covered ; then the funds gave
out and the work stopped. Kirkland's enemies, for so earnest a man could
not but have them, laughed at him and called the attempt " Kirkland's
folly." In 1794 the regents appointed a committee to look into the affairs
of the academy, but for some unknown reason no report was made. In
1796, however, the committee appointed by the board the year before
reported as follows :
" The trustees of Hamilton Oneida Academy, in the county of Herkimer,- have erected
the frame of a building for an academy, which will require considerable money to com-
plete. There is a small school room half a mile from the academy, in which scholars
have been formerly taught, but no teacher has been employed nor school kept since Sep-
tember, 1794."!
The school here spoken of was an effort on the part of the friends of
the academy to begin the academy work ; but it manifestly met with no
encouragement. The regents' report for 1796, made in 1797, J shows that
the academy was in a worse condition than the preceding year, that all
the money was exhausted, that there was no prospect of the building ever
being finished, and that the property had been levied on to satisfy unpaid
debts. The regents positively refused to appropriate any money whatever,
thinking that it would be money thrown away. But Mr. Kirkland per-
sisted. He worked hard himself and he pressed others into the endeavor
to raise funds. Mr. Joel Bristoll (whose descendants have been almost
continually connected with the institution, whose son was the first vale-
dictorian of Hamilton College, and long a trustee, whose grandson was for
some years an instructor, whose great-grandson is now in the faculty of
the college) made especially great efforts in behalf of the building, and to
him, in part, the final success of the enterprise is due. He succeeded in
raising enough money to finish completely one large room on the second
floor and two smaller ones on the first floor. At this time, also, two chim-
neys were built. The money again gave out, and for a year or two noth-
ing more was done.
* Oneida County was not yet formed.
\ Minutes of Board of Regents, Vol. I., p. 134.
% Regents' Minutes, I., 157.
400 HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1 794
But the academy was to be completed. The men who had undertaken
it were not the men to give up ; and so year after year adding something,
the building at last was ready for use, although it wras not entirely finished
until the academy became a college. It was a strong frame structure,
three stories high, eighty-eight feet long and forty-two feet wide. It was
designed to contain twenty rooms, sixteen feet square, and also a school-
room forty-two feet by twenty-two — and an apparatus and library room.
It was situated about a mile and a half from Clinton village. Across the
hills on which it stood Lord Amherst had marched his army for the final
demolition of French power in Canada. It was just over the Indian side
of the u Property Line ; " to the east of it were the clearings of the Con-
necticut and Massachusetts settlers ; to the west, the home of the Iro-
quois. It was placed here within territory up to this time sacred to the
Indian, with the design of making the Indian students feel at home, that
the academy was for them as well as the white man.
School was opened in this building late in 1798, and in 1799, at a meet-
ing of the regents, the following report was made :
" The trustees have represented to the regents that they have completed so much of
the building as is sufficient for the accommodation of a large school. They have pro-
cured an instructor, Mr. John Niles, who has had experience in the instruction of youth
at Greenfield Academy in Connecticut, and whose recommendation from Rev. Dr.
Dwight is an ample testimonial of his virtue and qualification as an instructor. The
school was opened on the 29th of December last. Nearly twenty scholars were admitted,
and the number was increasing, and there was reason to believe would in a short time be
respectable." *
During Mr. Niles' stay, Mr. Kirkland brought some Oneida Indians to
the school, and with the assistance of Mr. Eli Bristoll took care of them ;.
but they soon grew tired of books and study, and after an unsuccessful
attempt to convert them to civilized life they were permitted to return
home. Since then no Indians have attended the institution, either as an
academy or since it has become a college.
After four years' service, during which time the school had rapidly in-
creased, Mr. Niles resigned his position, and his place was filled by Rev.
Robert Porter. There were now in the school, as shown by the report to
the regents, fifty scholars, twelve of whom were instructed in the Latin
and Greek languages. The report of the following year gives about the
same number. Up to this time the reports of the academies had no set
form, but in 1803 blanks were prepared and systematic reports required.
The first formal annual report of Hamilton Oneida Academy, for the year
* Regents' Minutes, I., 190.
HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IX 1 794 4OI
ending October 10, 1804, shows in detail the condition of the academy at
that time, as follows:
PROPERTY. INCOME.
Academy lot and house $3, 500 From funds $48
Other real estate 900 From tuition 494
Personal estate 240
Library and apparatus 460
Number of volumes in library, 189.
APPARATUS. NUMBER OF STUDENTS.
Terrestrial Globe. English Grammar and Ciphering 26
Surveyor's Compass and Chain. Mathematics and Bookkeeping 6
A Thermometer. Dead Languages 30
An Electrical Machine. Logic, Rhetoric, and Composition 2
Robert Porter, Principal. Salary, $400.
David R. Dixon, Assistant. Salary $17 per month.
Plainly that was a day of small things, compared with the endowments,
appliances, and work of the present. But for the period, in a region only
settled by white men within a score of years, Hamilton Oneida Academy
was doing well. It ranked as sixth among the nineteen academies of the
State, and had established a reputation which attracted students from all
parts of New York and even from New England.
In 1805 Mr. Porter resigned, and was succeeded by Mr. Seth Norton,
who remained but a year, when Mr. James Robbins took his place. One
year later he in turn was superseded by Mr. Norton, who held his position
until the academy merged into the college. The academy, which at one
time seemed likely to fail, was now growing more prosperous every year.
The report for 1806 shows that there were eighty-five students. This was
the year in which Mr. Robbins had charge of the school. In 1807 the re-
port shows that there were one hundred and twenty-one students in the
academy — it being the third academy in the State.
In 1 8 10, which was the most prosperous year of the school, we find re-
ported one hundred and seventy students ; the library increased to two
hundred volumes ; the property increased to $15,805, and that Mr. Norton
was aided at times by four assistants. This report fully shows us for the
first time the inside work of the academy. We find there was " a class in
Homer and Euclid, one in De Officiis, two in Virgil, one in Quintus Cur-
tius, one in the elements of the Latin language, and one in English gram-
mar, the members of which had occasionally exercises in arithmetic and
geography."
There was manifested even at that early period a spirit of jealousy be-
402 HAMILTON ONEIDA ACADEMY IN 1 794
tween the public schools and academies which has continued to the present
time. This was true in the case of the Hamilton Oneida Academy ; and
there are in the reports of the trustees earnest denials of any rivalry with
the common schools ; that the candidate for admission was required to
be able to " read fluently and write a fair, legible hand " was advanced as
evidence that the academy was not encroaching on the public school.
The report of 181 1, the last report of Hamilton Oneida Academy, as
such, shows that the property had increased to $15,919, but the number of
students for some cause had decreased to one hundred and fifty. The
salary of Mr. Norton was $650, and that of his assistant, Mr. Eddy, $240.
It is evident that the friends of the academy, as soon as its prosperity
seemed assured, had hopes of its becoming a college. At the meeting of
the regents in 1805, they presented a plea for a college charter, which re-
ceived no response. In 18 10 they renewed their petition, but met only re-
fusal. They now raised $50,000, which would insure a like amount from
the state, as a basis for enlargement, and again applied for a college charter.
The friends of Union College and Fairfield seminary were strongly op-
posed to this attempt, but at last, in 18 12, the regents granted the peti-
tion. On the 24th of October, 18 12, Hamilton College received its first
students ; and in January, 1813, the regents authorized the chancellor to
receive the surrender of the charter of Hamilton Oneida Academy, on
proof that all its property had been transferred to Hamilton College.
Hamilton Oneida Academy thus became a thing of the past.
Although the academy had ceased to exist legally, yet the same spirit
was in the college. Mr. Norton, principal of the academy, became profes-
sor of languages in the college ; the early college students were from the
academy, and those who had befriended the academy aided the college.
The work and influence of Hamilton Oneida Academy are only widened
and deepened in the college whose true beginning was in the forest clear-
ing where Kirkland, after toil and sacrifice, founded the academy.
It was fitting that in June of last year, the graduating class of' the
college should place its memorial stone on the spot where nearly a century
ago Steuben, standing by the side of the missionary and the Indian, laid
the corner-stone of the academy.
It is fitting also that on the opening page of its later catalogues, Hamilton
College claims kinship with Hamilton Oneida Academy, and presents, as
the spirit of the college, the last wish of Mr. Kirkland for the academy.
>c^t*wJ^tr.
AARON BURR: A STUDY
I
The name of Aaron Burr has long been infamous. He stands not only
as the peer in treason of Benedict Arnold, but as the prince of political
intriguers, and the perpetrator of political murder. Even Danton holds a
scarcely more conspicuous place in the gallery of the detested. When
Hamilton fell at Weehawken, in 1806, Jeffersonism was in the ascendant,
and faction joined with federalism in the extremest denunciation of Burr.
And when, at length, the motives and the tongues of factional diatribe
died away, the steady growth of the federal doctrine, incarnate in Hamil-
ton, continued to fan the flame until Burr's name could not be mentioned
on any hand except with contumely. This has become a fixed and gen-
eral habit ; he is no longer named but as a political wizard, a traitor, and
an assassin.
It is current in criticism that the fundamental distinction between the
English and the French literatures arises from the fact that the English
usually write with view to a moral effect, while, with the French, all that is
natural or actual is ueedful to knowledge and fit for art. Whatever doubt
may be raised as to the propriety of the French theory as applied to other
departments of literature, it furnishes the true rule of historical criticism,
which presumes no man to be wholly good or totally bad, seeks natural
explanations instead of forced constructions, and subordinates moralizing
to the presentation of facts — in short, as Matthew Arnold puts it, aims to
see things as they are. Of the converse method, the treatment of Burr's
career is a forcible illustration. Indeed, the theme, by reason of some
markedly vulnerable features, is one peculiarly susceptible of moralizing
misrepresentation ; and under the sermonizing process, even Burr's misfor-
tunes have become iniquities, and his mistakes monstrosities. In speaking
of him in this place, however, it is not proposed to apologize or palliate,
but simply to present with fairness the outlines of a life scarcely more
misguided than misunderstood.
Although the subject is not an alluring one to the biographer, it has
been treated twice, aside from a small and valueless volume byoneKnapp,
printed in 1835. Davis' Memoirs, accompanied by Burr's Private Journal,
appeared in 1837, the year succeeding Burr's death. The work had been
prepared at Burr's request, and with the advantage of his personal informa-
404 AARON BURR: A STUDY
tion. But a more inane specimen of biographical writing of any preten-
sion has never appeared, even in this country. It is as dull as a documentary
history, and without the value ; being, indeed, but little more than a com-
pilation of letters to and from various persons, with varying connection
with the subject. Nor is dullness its gravest fault. Burr doubtless sup-
posed that, in confiding the task to an intimate acquaintance of forty
years' standing, the little justice that was due him would be shown. But
his worst enemy could hardly have written anything more inadequate or
unfair. Those phases upon which light might have been thrown are left
in their original gloom, while much is misstated or overdrawn, and so pal-
pably as to seem through an intentional effort to coincide with the popular
prejudice. The effect naturally was to confirm, if not to intensify, the
severest opinions that prevailed concerning Burr's public and private char-
acter. Twenty years later, Barton's Life of Burr was published. It was
the first, and thus far has been the only, effort to treat the subject in a
more true historical spirit. But the attempt at fairness rendered the work,
in some important respects, at variance with the prevailing sentiment, and
it was at once pronounced a mere panegyric, although it is difficult to see
how any version of Burr's life could merit that appellation. The work
is marked by the usual characteristics of Parton's writings — industry, accu-
mulation of facts, occasional error, considerable insight, and some exag-
geration, all combined in a style somewhat loose and hurried, but often
graphic. It affords the basis of a more accurate understanding of Burr's
career, and an interior view of his times. And, it may be added, it is in
securing these interior views that the study of the minor and the more
unadmirable public characters finds its chief utility. We thus discern the
seamy side of great reputations, and the mechanism of historical events.
History, when correctly known, is altogether human, and the period in
which Aaron Burr figures is very far from forming an exception.
Burr was born on the 6th of February, 1756. Few children of his day
entered the world under finer auspices. His mother was cultured and
beautiful, and the daughter of Jonathan Edwards, the foremost divine of
the colonies, and the first American whose writings achieved a reputation
in Europe. The paternal stock was equally good. His father, the Rev-
erend Aaron Burr, was the descendant of a substantial Connecticut family,
and in his time a distinguished personage. He enjoyed a wide repute for
classical scholarship no less than for efficient eloquence, and became the
first president of Princeton College, the founding of which was mainly due
to his efforts. It was during his labors at the College of New Jersey, the
parent of Princeton, that he had married Esther Edwards, after a brief
AARON BURR: A STUDY 405
and practical courtship. The fruit of the union was only two children,
Aaron and a sister, two years his senior. But a singular series of deaths
following close upon each other soon left them even worse than orphans ;
within the space of thirteen months they lost both their parents and their
grandparents. To these misfortunes, however, was not added that of
poverty, for they came into possession of a fine estate ; nor were they left
Avholly without friends, being shortly taken in charge by Timothy Ed-
wards, their mother's brother, and brought up by him' at his home in
Elizabethtown.
Even at this point we begin to perceive the assiduity with which the
smallest circumstances that tend in any degree to illustrate Burr's accepted
character have been collected and preserved. No boyish pranks, no say-
ings or doings that can be construed to point in that direction have been
lost. And so numerous are the anecdotes of this description, that the
casual eye easily sees him as perverted from infancy. The following pas-
sage from his own mother's diary, written when he was but thirteen months
old, does service at the head of the catalogue :
" January 31, 1758. — Aaron is a little, dirty, noisy boy, very different from Sally almost
in everything. He begins to talk a little ; is very sly and mischievous. He has more
sprightliness than Sally, and most say he is handsomer, but not so good tempered. He
is very resolute, and requires a good governor to bring him to terms."
Uncle Timothy was a strict Puritan, and as such had more or less diffi-
culty, it would seem, in conforming the deportment of his vivacious ward
to his rather prim notions of propriety, although not sparing the rod.
Among other escapades, it is related that, at the age of ten, young Aaron
ran away to go to sea. He went to New York, and was actually employed
as a cabin-boy upon a vessel about to sail, when he observed his irate
uncle coming in quest of him. The boy took to the rigging, and refused
to be beguiled from his perch until assured that his exploit would entail
no unhappy consequences.
But instead of finding in his youthful conduct the germs of perversion,
we may rather perceive a buoyant and restless energy quite as likely to
develop into very superior qualities. In fact, his fine talents are shown by
his being proficient enough in study at the age of eleven to apply for ad-
mission to Princeton College. His application was denied on account of
his youth, and he continued his studies for two years under private in-
struction before it was renewed. This time he not only demanded admis-
sion, but admission into the junior class, since he possessed the requisite
preparation. This advancement, of course, was likewise denied him,
406 AARON BURR: A STUDY
although he was permitted to enter as a sophomore. He graduated at
sixteen, and with considerable distinction. Nevertheless, the events of
his college days are supposed to discover increasingly patent evidence of
his native moral obliquity. Thus it is recounted how, against the tradi-
tions of his descent, and to the dismay of his puritanical friends, he resisted
the contagion of a religious revival ; how he acquired the habit of writing
letters in cipher ; and how he had already become an admirer and disciple
of Chesterfield.
After his graduation he passed three years of leisure and amusement,
during which time his fortune, his promise and his good looks are said
to have made due impression upon the female heart. He then began the
study of law with his brother-in-law, at Litchfield, Connecticut. But he had
little more than begun before the news of Lexington electrified the Colo-
nies. He was filled at once with enthusiasm for the Revolutionary cause,
and a few days after Washington assumed command he joined the army
near Boston. At this time his chief ambition was military. Not only
familiar with all that could be learned in books of the science of war,
Burr was a natural soldier. His slight figure was more than compensated
by his remarkable courage and dignified bearing. His brilliant, piercing
eye was the index of energy and command. His soldierly qualities were
soon put to test. Upon its organization, he joined Arnold's expedition
against Canada, and encountered a series of hardships and adventures that
destroyed half the force before they saw the heights of Quebec. For
thirty-two days the little army struggled through the wilderness, and were
as many times compelled to carry their boats, stores, and sick around rapids
and through swamps and morasses. Once Burr's boat was carried over the
falls in Dead River, and he barely escaped with his life. For days starva-
tion stared the army in the face. They were reduced to feed upon the
flesh of their dogs and the leather of their shoes and cartridge-boxes.
Arrived at Quebec, it was necessary for Arnold to communicate
with Montgomery, whose forces lay before Montreal. Burr's skill and
conduct recommended him for that service, and he was commissioned to
perform it alone. The distance was one hundred and ninety miles, through
a hostile country ; but by means of the aid he received from the Jesuit
clergy, who were inimical to the English government, he successfully
accomplished the mission ; and so charmed was Montgomery with young
Burr's bravery and address that he forthwith appointed him his aide, with
the rank of captain.
Montgomery joined Arnold at Quebec, and in the operations that
followed Burr took an active and prominent part. In the ill-starred night
AARON BURR: A STUDY 407
assault, during which Montgomery was slain, the young captain bore him-
self with great courage and discretion. His exploits gained him much
applause throughout the army ; and, reaching the ear of Washington, a
place was made for him in the general's immediate service. Thus in May,
1776, Burr reported at Washington's headquarters at New York City.
Six weeks of service, however, were sufficient to dissatisfy him with his
situation. His duties were solely clerical, and unsuited to the bent of
his ambition ; and, besides this, he had for some reason imbibed a dislike
for Washington that deepened in after years. The antipathy is said to
have been mutual, although it may doubted whether Washington at this
time had enough to do with Burr to form an active dislike for him. At
any rate, his position was exchanged for that of aide-de-camp to General
Putnam, who commanded on Long Island. The circumstance has been
the occasion of disparaging inferences. But that the tame function of
amanuensis should be irksome after the exciting experience he had seen
was only to be expected. Hamilton's conduct in the same situation was
certainly the more reprehensible. And the propriety, moreover, of the
change was soon evidenced. He served under Putnam for ten months
with great credit to himself and advantage to the cause. In several en-
gagements he proved himself a brilliant and valuable officer, although it is
asserted that he also found opportunity for gallantries of quite a different
description.
In July, 1777, in recognition of his services, he was promoted, and by
Washington, to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. His immediate superior
was a New York merchant who, like many of the Continental officers,
owed his commission to other considerations than his military talents.
Being rarely with his regiment, the command of it devolved upon Burr,
under whose rigorous and exacting discipline it soon became one of the
best in the service. In the battle of Monmouth he commanded a brigade,
and again narrowly escaped death, his horse being shot under him. After
this Washington selected him to perform a variety of delicate missions,
which he did with complete success. Yet it is insinuated that at this time,
while Washington valued Burr's services, he distrusted his integrity. Of
this, however, there is no proof, nor is there a reason to justify the charge.
The treatment he received at the hands of the commander-in-chief, be-
stowed upon any other man, would lead to an entirely opposite conclusion.
At most, Washington may have been informed of Burr's passive concur-
rence in the efforts then making to supersede him, as well as of the low
estimate that Burr placed upon his generalship ; but Washington's indif-
ference to the acts of the principals in that intrigue excludes the idea of
AARON BURR: A STUDY
his harboring a prejudice against a subordinate officer simply on the score
of his military opinions.
In January, 1779, Burr was placed in command of the Westchester
lines, a position of extreme difficulty and importance, lying between the
opposing armies. But, after two months of skillful and efficient service,
he was compelled by the loss of his health to resign his commission. This
ended his connection with the army, but he left it with a justly high repu-
tation.
His health was so seriously broken that he spent eighteen months in
recuperation, after which he resumed his legal studies ; for extravagant
habits acquired in the army had depleted his patrimony, and a profession
had become a necessity as well as a choice. He was admitted to the bar in
April, 1782, soon after which he married Mrs. Prevost, a widow without
beauty or wealth, and ten years older than himself, besides being the
mother of two children. But the lady was possessed of an unusual degree
of cultivation, and of such elegant and engaging manners that Burr, in
after life, was wont to attribute his own finish of manner to the influence
of her example.
He began practice at Albany, but soon afterward removed to New York,
where, until 1791, he gave the law his undivided attention. The disbar-
ment of the Tory lawyers and the confiscation of Tory estates furnished
a lucrative field for legal operations ; and Burr made the most of the
opportunity. His military reputation, combined with his legal skill, made
his services in great demand. Save by Hamilton, he was practically unop-
posed ; and, until the unhappy climax, they were the giants of the New
York bar. Burr's definition of law — " whatever is boldly asserted and
plausibly maintained " — doubtless supplies to some extent the key to his
method of practice. He was in law very much as he was in war — untiring,
vigilant, persistent, decisive. In the technique of practice he had no peer.
He was sagacious and subtle, and unlimited in resources and ingenuity.
Every contingency was previously provided for. Always alert for legal
pitfalls, he was consummate in constructing them. In the ordinary sense
he was never eloquent ; but it is related that he would often break down
hours of Hamilton's oratory with twenty minutes of concise and potent
argument. So terse and clear was his habitual style of expression that
his longest speeches rarely exceeded half an hour. It is insinuated rather
than asserted that in the exigencies of litigation he did not scruple to
resort to questionable practices, seeking success regardless of the means.
Such charges are easily broached, and frequently are, against counsel who
move with astuteness and celerity. Nevertheless, counsel whose clientage
AARON BURR: A STUDY 4°9
is among the most respectable and substantial class of a community do
not employ means that are not approved by those for whom they act.
The imputation of trickery is not seldom the consequence of legal but
honorable shrewdness.
At all events, Burr's practice became straightway large, lucrative and
conspicuously successful. He was soon enabled to purchase the beauti-
ful estate known as " Richmond Hill." It had been Washington's head-
quarters in 1776, and under Burr's proprietorship became a social center.
He there entertained Talleyrand, Volney, Louis Philippe, and many other
foreigners of note who visited the city, although, curiously enough, in after
years the place became a groggery. His library was one of the largest
and most valuable in the country, he being one of the few who kept
accounts with London book-sellers and were regularly supplied with the
current literature of Europe.
Not until 1791 can his political career be said to have commenced. He
had, it is true, been twice a member of the state assembly, and was then
attorney-general; but those positions were due to his high standing as a
citizen, and his ability as a lawyer, rather than to his political aspirations
or efforts, He had been regarded in no sense as a politician. Even to
the greatest political event of the age, the formation and establishment of
the Constitution, he seems to have been indifferent. While Hamilton was
writing the Federalist, Burr was trying law-suits. He regarded the new
government with contempt, and the most that is known of his views concern-
ing it is his prediction that it would not endure fifty years. But his casual
political experience had doubtless suggested to him his possibilities, and
he now devoted to politics those peculiar qualities which made his dexter-
ity unequaled at the bar. For some time previous, the charm of his
manners and style of living had drawn around him a personal following, by
Hamilton termed " Burr's myrmidons," and by his friends, " The Tenth
Legion." They were fast becoming an independent force, and, from the
peculiar situation of state politics, promised to develop a balance of power.
But to national politics Burr was wholly unknown. Whatever influence
he possessed was confined to New York City. Party lines, soon to be so
sharply drawn, were as yet only in process of formation, but so far as they
were defined, he was known to be anti-federal. And thus it is that when,
with the legislature almost unanimously federal, and General Schuyler a
candidate, Burr was elected to the Senate of the United States, his success
has been regarded as the result of political necromancy. No event of his
life has been given a greater hue of mystery, or has given rise to more
vague speculation.
Vol. XVIII.— No. 5.-28
4IO AARON BURR: A STUDY
In these days of millions and magnitudes, the events of our early his-
tory would seem trivial but for the vast consequences by which they have
been followed. Without these consequences, the deeds of Washington
would suffer beside those of Marlborough or Maurice. Without the failure
of the Rebellion, the founders of the Constitution would, in future ages, be
individually little better known than the founders of the Hanseatic League.
More lives were lost in the campaign of the Wilderness, in 1864, than in
all the battles of the Revolution. Lee surrendered four times as many
men at Appomattox as Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. All the
readers of the Federalist up to the time the Constitution was adopted were
doubtless less in number than one day's readers of a modern metropolitan
journal. The population of the entire United States was then consider-
ably less than the present population of New York State ; and for a num-
ber of years afterward, a gubernatorial contest in that state would poll a
smaller number of votes than now are cast at a municipal election in one
of its interior cities. In 1800, New York State had fewer inhabitants than
are now in the city of Buffalo; and New York City was only two-thirds
the size of the present city of Syracuse. Such was the circumscribed
arena in which the great men of that generation performed the acts now
recounted in every tongue. But to judge the politics of that day by the
politics of this would be as futile as to compare the generalship of Han-
nibal with that of Von Moltke, or the ancient battering-ram with the
modern Krupp gun. There was more of personality, perhaps more of
genius, but less of system and machinery. Political management was not
as yet an exact science, nor party loyalty a more practical virtue than
patriotism. The whole system of politics and government was only in
embryo, and far less complicated and difficult than those of a state to-day.
Divested, therefore, of the notions concerning Burr's methods and
character engendered by subsequent events, there is little or nothing re-
markable about his election to the Senate, so long pointed out as the
extraordinary first step of a more extraordinary political career. At that
period, a seat in the Senate was a post of no very exalted prominence.
The governorship of a state was deemed more preferable, both as to power
and position. Nor was it until those foreign complications finally resulting
in the war of 1812 that Congress as a body assumed the importance that
it has since possessed. General Schuyler was not of the popular sort. He
was pompous and haughty, and, aside from his family distinction, his
greatest power lay in having Hamilton for a son-in-law. Burr was deemed
by many as fully the mental peer of Hamilton, although of a diametrically
different genius. His manner was fascinating beyond that of any other
AARON BURR: A STUDY 411
man of his time. No one stood higher in public esteem. No whisper was
breathed against him. Hence, with Schuyler distasteful, and himself able
and popular, it was no phenomenon that he should be elected to a place
that had no especial political importance. Not even the newspapers thought
more of the matter than simply to state the fact of his election and record
the vote. It may, of course, be plausibly conjectured that if Burr desired
the seat, as undoubtedly he did, his refined adroitness might well have
succeeded, under the circumstances, without leaving any traces of his
means. But there was no occasion for duplicity or manipulation ; and no
unbiased and practical eye can see in the affair any evidence of political
jugglery.
His senatorial service added little to his reputation ; but his power in
politics was rapidly increasing. In personal popularity among the anti-
federal party, he stood a close second to Jefferson. In 1796, upon Wash-
ington's retirement, he received thirty votes for the presidency ; and at
one time his success was a fair possibility. Before the expiration of his
senatorial term, he had been proposed as a candidate for governor and had
declined a judicial appointment. During this period, only a single circum-
stance can be brought to bear against him. In 1794 he was unanimously
nominated by the republican senators and representatives for the appoint-
ment of minister to France, in the place of Gouverneur Morris ; but Wash-
ington refused to consider him, on the ground that he was not assured of
his integrity. The caucus adhered to the nomination, but the President
also adhered to his resolution, which, it may be presumed, was prompted
by Hamilton, the helm of Washington's administration. And it is a sug-
gestive fact that the charges against Burr of this nature during this period
of his career are based almost exclusively upon vague and general asser-
tions contained in Hamilton's correspondence. For, from the time of
Burr's election to the Senate, Hamilton, whether from rivalry or the fears
he professed to entertain of Burr's designs, spared no efforts to break down
his reputation with various political leaders. " I fear," he had already
written, " that he is unprincipled, both as a private and a public man . . .
bold, enterprising and intriguing." Again : " Secretly turning liberty into
ridicule, he knows as well as most men how to make use of the name. In
a word, if we have an embryo Caesar in the United States, it is Burr."
Burr's senatorial term expired the 4th of March, 1797. But the
prominence he had attained in the republican party made his re-election
impossible, as the federalists were still in control. Public life had straitened
his circumstances, and he returned to the law with so much industry and
absorption that his friends complained of his indifference to politics, al-
412 AARON BURR: A STUDY
though he was immediately elected to the Assembly, and was returned for
three successive terms. But that service was not exacting, and, until the
last session, little is known of his doings, except his cultivation of the
country members with view to the ensuing presidential election. In
the mean time, it is curious to note that Washington repeated his former
treatment of Burr. The measures of the French Directory had aroused
the martial spirit of the country, and preparations were begun for the war
that seemed imminent. Washington was made commander-in-chief, and
Hamilton was given the second place. At this juncture, Adams requested
that Burr be appointed a brigadier-general. Washington's answer was,
" By all that I have known and heard, Colonel Burr is a brave and able
officer ; but the question is, whether he has not equal talents at intrigue."
Washington, however, proposed the nomination ; but through Hamilton's
influence it was not made.
During Burr's last year in the Assembly, in 1799, he did what has been
always pointed to as conclusive proof of his craft and lack of scruple. It
is also the only act on which to base the charge, although possibly char-
acteristic of legal and political methods whose operation skill and finesse
had concealed.
New York City was poorly supplied with water ; and for the ostensible
purpose of remedying this defect, Burr introduced into the legislature a
bill to incorporate the " Manhattan Company." The amount of capital
needful to construct the proposed water-works was professed to be uncer-
tain, and a provision was therefore inserted by which the surplus capital
in excess of the two millions fixed by the charter " might be employed in
any way not inconsistent with the laws and the Constitution." Some
question was raised as to the possibilities that dwelt in so vague and broad
a clause ; but Burr smoothly allayed suspicion, and the bill became a law.
At that period there were but two banks in the city of New York, and
one of them was a branch of the United States Bank. Both were con-
trolled by the federalists, and republicans found it difficult to procure
accommodation. For the latter to establish a bank of their own was
equally difficult, as banks were regarded in that day as peculiarly political
engines, and the federalists, being supreme, were naturally opposed to
furnishing arms to their opponents. The subsequent contest over the re-
charter of the United States Bank, which formed for the time the issue
between the national parties, illustrates the sentiment that prevailed.
Moreover, there existed a popular prejudice against all corporations hard
to conceive at the present day, when few enterprises of magnitude are con-
ducted except by corporations. The Manhattan Company made no effort
AARON BURR: A STUDY 4*3
to furnish water, but, by virtue of the eight or ten general words which
had been dexterously inserted in the prolix water charter, it proceeded
forthwith to establish the Manhattan Bank. The leading republicans
were jubilant over the success of Burr's ruse ; but the people were so in-
dignant for the time being that he was defeated in the attempt to secure
a re-election.
The means employed to obtain this charter may be reprehensible to
strict political principle, but, considering the circumstances, the motives
of opposition, and the propriety of the bank in itself, the vociferous outcry
that has been raised over it seems absurd. Not a leading republican in
the land, from Jefferson down, but laughed in his sleeve ; and, as may be
so often repeated concerning most of Burr's actions, were it not for his
unfortunate course a few years later, this circumstance would now excite
scarcely a passing comment.
The presidential contest was approaching, and every indication pointed
to a federal victory, until Burr's efforts turned the tables, and made re-
publican success a certainty. His house had become the rendezvous of the
youth, talent and energy of his party in New York. His plans were deep,
his activity ceaseless, and his following admiring and devoted. He now
bent himself to the election of a republican legislature, in order to secure
the electoral vote of the state. Although difficult to achieve, such a result
would be decisive. His plans were favored in two ways — by the increasing
democratic sentiment and a feud in the federal party.
Until the French Revolution, the class distinctions had been nearly as
marked as they are in England. The rustic population stood in awe of the
upper circle. Coaches-and-four were common. Gentlemen wore their
hair powdered and pig-tailed, and dressed in velvet and satin. Knee-
breeches, silk stockings, and silver buckles were the order of the day. But
the social ideas of the French Revolution dealt these ancient and elegant
fashions a deadly blow. Jefferson, returning from France, became the
prophet of republicanism in America, and accompanied his republican
doctrines with republican pantaloons. The effect was quick and conta-
gious. The common classes were easily drawn to the principles of which
plain garb was the recognized badge. Among the industrial classes, the
tailors and the barbers were about the only ones that remained federal to
a man ; they denounced without measure the simple customs that were so
fatal to dress and dignity. The republican party was steadily gaining in
strength among the people.
Faction was the other source of federal weakness. Adams was intracta-
able, and refused to acknowledge Hamilton's dictatorship. In consequence,
4M AARON BURR: A STUDY
the latter resolved to undermine him, and at once set out to defeat his re-
election by means that eclipsed any that Burr employed against Jefferson.
He was indefatigable and relentless. He journeyed and corresponded.
He did all that could be done to advance Pinckney, and relegate Adams to
the vice-presidency. Common fairness must admit that, as compared with
Hamilton, Burr possessed but the rudiments of political intrigue. Neither
Jefferson nor Adams had any doubt on that point. One deemed Hamilton
" the evil genius of the country ; " while the other wrote that he " was the
most restless, impatient, artful, indefatigable and unprincipled intriguer in
the United States, if not in the world."
Through his assurance that the federal party would at all events secure
a majority of the presidential electors, Hamilton devoted more attention
to his factional designs than to the operations of the republicans. When
the time for electing members of the state legislature drew near, he pre-
pared what in modern political parlance is called a " slate," composed of
men who would be governed by his instructions. But unfortunately for
his plans, those individuals were citizens of little political consequence, and,
in some cases, of not over-wholesome reputation. This circumstance
Burr immediately turned to advantage by a most admirably efficient piece
cf strategy. By personal and persistent entreaty, he induced several of
the best-known and most honored republicans to go upon the counter
ticket. Men like George Clinton, General Gates, and Brockholst Living-
ston disliked a candidacy that to them was political condescension ; but
their scruples were one after another deftly allayed by Burr's appeals to
party patriotism. And finally, when the ticket thus composed was com-
pleted, it was unexpectedly and dramatically announced. Hamilton and
the federal leaders were struck with consternation ; but they soon rallied to
a most strenuous and exciting contest. No means were neglected on
either side. Both Burr and Hamilton addressed great crowds from the
same platform, after the manner of Lincoln and Douglas in later days.
But Hamilton's scheme had overreached. The republican ticket was
triumphant, and that meant that the next president would doubtless be a
republican.
In his unworthy effort to beat Adams, Hamilton had beaten his party.
He was filled with mortification and chagrin. Burr's dexterous manage-
ment had wrested the administration of the government from the federal-
ists, unless a desperate expedient that occurred to Hamilton could be car-
ried into effect. His proposition puts to blush any act of Burr's political
career, not excepting the means he employed to establish the Manhattan
Bank. The old legislature was federalist, and its term of service had still
AARON BURR: A STUDY 41 5
two months to run. The day succeeding the election, Hamilton wrote to
Governor Jay, himself a distinguished federalist, his method of procedure.
The anti-federal party, he said, was a composition of very incongruous
materials, but all of them tending to mischief ; some to the emasculation
of the government, others to revolutionizing it in the style of Bonaparte.
Moreover, since Jefferson was doubtless the choice of his party, unusual
measures, if they were strictly legal and constitutional, would justify the
prevention of an atheist in religion and a fanatic in politics from gaining
possession of the helm of state. He, therefore, proposed to the governor
that he call an extra session of the old legislature for the purpose of chang-
ing the manner of choosing presidential electors. But Jay could not ap-
prove the scheme. Long afterward this letter was found among his
papers bearing this indorsement : " Proposing a measure for party pur-
poses, which, I think, would not become me to adopt."
Hamilton for a time still clung to the vain hope of federal success, and
renewed his efforts to concentrate the vote of his party upon Pinckney.
He wrote a circular letter " Concerning the Public Conduct and Character
of John Adams," in which he reviled him personally, and urged a variety
of objections to his re-election. It was printed in pamphlet form for pri-
vate and secret distribution ; but in some manner a copy found its way into
Burr's hands as soon as it was ready. Through his instructions it was re-
printed in the republican papers in various parts of the country a few
days before the presidential electors were chosen. The effect of its pub-
lication was instant and fatal. It irretrievably divided the federal party,
and destroyed its final hope.
Hamilton, again outwitted, turned his attention to Burr, whose purposes
were now becoming forcibly evident. His candidacy gathered rapidly in
strength, and soon grew formidable. Without difficulty he secured the vote
of New York, and made contagious progress in the other Northern states.
His success was great and surprising ; on the final vote he tied with Jeffer-
son. The election was, therefore, thrown into the House of Representa-
tives, and in suspense and excitement the struggle that followed sur-
passed the electoral contest of 1877.
For sixty days the issue was undetermined. During that time Hamil-
ton was in arms against Burr. He rested neither day nor night, exerting
the same means he had used against Adams. His course was vigorous
and virulent. He wrote a volume of letters. His friends in every direc-
tion were counseled at all hazards and to all lengths to oppose Burr.
" Burr," he wrote to one, " will certainly attempt to reform the govern-
ment a la Bonaparte. He is as unprincipled and dangerous a man as any
416 AARON BURR: A STUDY
country can boast ; as true a Catiline as ever met in midnight conclave."
The following extracts from various other letters will further illustrate the
character of this correspondence : 4k He is a bankrupt beyond redemption,
except by the plunder of his country." " Every step in his career proves
that he has formed himself upon the model of Catiline, and that he is too
cold-blooded and too determined a conspirator ever to change his plan."
" No engagement that can be made with him can be relied upon. . . .
Disgrace abroad, ruin at home, are the probable fruits of his elevation."
" They may as well think to bind a giant by a cobweb as his ambition
by promises." " He is a voluptuary by system." " These things are ad-
mitted, indeed they cannot be controverted, that he is a man of extreme
and irregular ambition ; that he is selfish to a degree which excludes all
social affections, and that he is decidedly profligate." And it is somewhat
amusing to read in the same letter from which this last extract is taken his
opinion of Jefferson, for whom he advises his correspondent to vote in
preference to Burr. " I admit," he writes, " that his [Jefferson's] politics
are tinctured with fanaticism ; . that he is crafty and persever-
ing in his objects ; that he is not scrupulous about the means of success
nor very mindful of truth ; and that he is a contemptible hypocrite."
By the time the House convened to decide the question, Hamilton's
efforts had been effectual, although most of the federalists were strongly
disposed to vote for Burr, many attributing Hamilton's course to personal
enmity or rivalry. Than Jefferson no republican was more offensive to
them, since to his acts and doctrines the new party mainly owed its ex-
istence. With Burr the case was somewhat different. While he had
always acted with the republicans, and had made the election of a repub-
lican President possible, he was neither the father of nor the sponsor for
the republican creed. He was a new man, in whose elevation the federal-
ists saw the possible prospect of at least a quasi alliance. It is therefore
not surprising that, as against their arch-enemy, they should incline to him.
But Hamilton's influence stayed this inclination among a sufficient num-
ber to prevent Burr's election, which would otherwise have been accom-
plished on the first ballot ; and, could the result have been attained by a
simple majority of the House, he would have succeeded even then. But he
was deprived of the effect of his numerical strength by reason of the vote
being taken by states, which, for seven days and until the last ballot,
stood eight for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two evenly divided between
them. Jefferson was personally on the scene to take advantage of what-
ever virtue there might be in his presence. Burr, however, remained at
Albany, where he was then a member of the legislature ; and there is no
AARON BURR: A STUDY 417
evidence that, during the struggle, he especially exerted himself, much less
to practice the duplicity and dissimulation attributed to him. On the con-
trary, one of his own supporters wrote on the first day of the balloting
that " a little good management would have secured our object on the
first vote ; " and, two days later, " had Burr done anything for himself
he would long ere this have been President." And this is confirmed by
Bayard, through whose instrumentality, guided by Hamilton, the federal-
ists finally came to Jefferson'srescue and terminated the contest. "The
means existed," he immediately wrote to Hamilton, " of electing Burr ;
but this required his co-operation. By deceiving one man, a great block-
head, and tempting two, not incorruptible, he might have secured a ma-
jority of the states." There remains little doubt, from the evident facts,
that, had Burr been as ambitious and unprincipled as he was charged
to be, or, aside from the means that Bayard suggests, had he accepted
the direct bids he received to co-operate with the federal party, he
could easily have won. Nevertheless, as it was, by the system then pur-
sued, he was elected Vice-President.
But he had reached the summit of his career. A future of misfortune
and mistakes awaited him.
/
AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE, IN 1676
BETWEEN BACON, " THE REBEL," AND JOHN GOODE OE " WHITBY "
In reading the article on " The First American Rebel," in the January
number of the Magazine of American History, I was reminded of a docu-
ment in my own possession which has not to my knowledge ever been
printed, and which, indeed, I have not seen alluded to in any publication,
save Dories Englisli Colonies in America, vol. 1., p. 250.
This is a letter written to Sir William Berkeley by John Goode, a Vir-
ginia planter, which gives in dialogue form " the full substance of a dis-
course" between himself and Nathaniel Bacon, early in September, 1676,
and which seems to indicate that Bacon was from the beginning of his
career in Virginia a seditious personage, and that his rebellion was not the
result of Berkeley's failure to support the colonists in their efforts to repel
the incursions of the Indians, as Bacon's admirers have sometimes argued,
but was premeditated.
John Goode and Bacon were near neighbors, " Whitby," Goode's plan-
tation, being on the southern bank of the James about a mile below the
Falls, which was then called its head, and in plain view from Bacon's plan-
tation, which was in the midst of the present site of the city of Rich-
mond. * Bacon was a young man, " not yet arrived to thirty years," and
was from all accounts impetuous, turbulent, and dissipated. He had been
only a few months in the colony and "some did lay to his charge he hav-
ing run out his patrimony in England, except what he brought to Virginia,
and for that the most part to be exhausted, which together made him sus-
pecting of casting an eye to search for retrievement in the troubled waters of
popular discontent, wanting patience to wait the death of his opulent
cousin, old Colonel Bacon, whose estate he expected to inherit."
Goode, on the other hand, was a man of nearly sixty, a veteran Royalist,
who had left England during the rule of Cromwell, and who in all prob-
ability was one of the little army that, in 1652, under Lord Willoughby, re-
sisted the invasion of Barbadoes by a Cromwellian army, and were the last
of the adherents of King Charles to capitulate. From Barbadoes he came
to Virginia before 1660, and had now for fifteen years been living upon this
frontier plantation. He was, according to tradition, " an old, fox-hunting
* Bacon had another plantation at " Curies," a few miles further down the James.
T. M. (Thomas Matthews.)
AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE, IN 1 676 4 '9
English squire," who brought to the new world the traditions and con-
servatism of his Cornish forefathers. Doyle characterizes him as" a lead-
ing colonist, apparently a man of moderate views, and a personal friend of
Bacon." If Lawrence, " thoughtful Mr. Lawrence," and " the sober Scotch
gentleman," Mr. Drummond, who were also advanced in years and in Ba-
con's confidence, had been equally prudent and sagacious in discriminat-
ing between a rebellion against Berkeley and a rebellion against the Crown,
the impetuous young leader might have been spared his untimely death.
Goode was without doubt one of the little band of planters at the head
of the James who rose to resist the invasion of the Indians in May, 1676,
and placing Bacon at their head, marched into the wilderness. Unterrified
by Berkeley's proclamations, he remained with Bacon until he began to talk
of rebellion against the king's authority instead of simple Indian warfare.
Goode was also one of the band of fifty -seven horsemen who fought the
battle of Bloody Run ; and probably one of the six hundred who marched
with Bacon to Jamestown and obtained from the governor and council
a commission for him as general and commander in chief against the In-
dians. He was with Bacon at Middle Plantation, and it was here that the
conversation took place which is recorded in the Colonial Entry Book, vol.
lxxi., pp. 232-240. My attention was first called to this by Dr. Edward
Eggleston, who has been pursuing an exhaustive study of Bacon, the re-
sults of which it is hoped will soon be made public. Commenting upon
Goode's letter, Dr. Eggleston writes :
" The paper is far from being a cringing one — it is indeed dignified, if
one considers the reign of terror under which it was written."
It reads as follows — the " B " and " G " before each paragraph designat-
ing Bacon and Goode in the narrative of the dialogue, as presented by
Goode to Governor Berkeley :
Hond SR.
In obedient submission to yor honors comand directed to me by Capt.
Wm. Bird I haue written the full substance of a discourse Nath : Bacon
deceased proposd to me on or about the 2d day of Septr : last, both in
ordr. and words as followeth.
B: There is a report S. Wm Berkeley hath sent to the King for 2000
Red Coates, and I doe beleive it may bee true, tell me your opinion, may
not 500 Virginians beat them, wee having the same advantages against
them, the Indians have agst us.
G : I rather conceive 500 Red Coates may either subject or ruine Vir-
420 AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE, IN 1676
B : You talk strangely, are not wee acquainted with the Country, can
lay Ambussadoes, and take Trees and putt them by, the use of their dis-
cipline, and are doubtlesse as good or better shott then they.
G : But they can accomplish what I have sayd without hazard or com-
ing into such disadvantages, by taking opportunities of Landing where
there shall bee noe opposition, firing our houses and Fences, destroying
our Stocks, and preventing all Trade and supplyes to the Country.
B : There may bee such prevention that they shall not bee able to make
any great Progresse in such mischeifes, and the Country or clime not agree-
ing wth. their Constitutions, great mortality will happen amongst them, in
their Seasoning wch. will weare and weary them out.
G. You see Sr. that in a manner all the principall Men in the Countrey,
dislike yor. manner of proceedings, they, you may bee sure will joine with
the Red Coates.
B : But there shall none of them bee.
G : Sr. you speake as though you design'd a totall defection from
Majestie, and our native country.
B : Why (smiling) haue not many Princes lost their Dominions soe.
G : They haue been such people as haue been able to subsist without
their Prince. The poverty of Virginia is such, that the Major part of the
Inhabitants can scarce supply their wants from hand to mouth, and many
there are besides can hardly shift, without Supply one yeare, and you may
bee sure that this people which soe fondly follow you, when they come to
feele the miserable wants of food and rayment, will bee in greater heate
to leave you, then they were to come after you, besides here are many
people in Virginia that receive considerable benefitts, comforts, and ad-
vantages by Parents, Friends and Correspondents in England, and many
which expect Patrimonyes and Inheritances which they will by no meanes
decline.
B: For supply I know nothing: the Country will be able to provide
it selfe with all, in a little time, saue Ammunition and Iron, and I believe
the King of France or States of Holland would either of them entertaine
a Trade with us.
G : Sr. our King is a great Prince and his Amity is infinitely more
valuable to them, then any advantage they can reape by Virginia, they
will not therefore pvoke his displeasure by supporting his Rebells here;
besides I conceive that yor. followers do not think themselves ingaged
against the Kings Authority, but agst. the Indians.
B: But I think otherwise, and am confident of it, that it is the mind
of this countrey, and of Mary Land, and Carolina also, to cast off their
AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE, IN 1676 421
Governor and the Governrs. of Carolina haue taken no notice of the Peo-
ple, nor the People of them, along time: and the People are resolv'd to
own their Governour noe further ; And if wee cannot p'vaile by Armes to
make our Conditions for Peace, or obtaine the Priviledge to elect our own
Governour, we may retire to Roanoke, and here hee fell into a discourse
of seating a Plantation in a great Island in the River, as a fitt place to re-
tire to, for a Refuge.
G : Sr. The prosecuting what you haue discoursed will unavoidably
produce utter ruine and destruction to the People and Countrey, & I dread
the thoughts of putting my hand to the promoting a designe of such
miserable consequence, therefore hope you will not expect from me.
B : I am glad I know your mind, but this proceeds from meere cow-
ardlynesse.
G : And I desire you should know my mind, for I desire to harbour
noe such thoughts, which I should feare to impart to any. man.
B : Then what should a Gentleman engaged as I am, doe, yow doe as
good as tell me, I must fly or hang for it.
G : I conceive a seasonable submission to the Authority yow haue your
Comission from, acknowledging such Errors and Excesse, as are yett past,
there may bee hope of remission. I perceived his cogitations were much
on this discourse, hee nominated, Carolina, for the watch word.
Three dayes after I asked his leaue to goe home, hee sullenly An-
swered, you may goe, and since that time, I thank God, I never saw or
heard from him. Here I most humbly begg yor Honours pardon for my
breaches and neglects of duty, and that your Honour will favourably
considr. in this particular, I neither knew any man amongst us, that had
any meanes by which I might give intelligence to yo honor hereof, and
the necessity thereof, I say by yor. honors, prudence, foresight, and In-
dustry may bee pvented. So praying God to blesse and prosper all your
eouncells and actions I conclude
Yor. Honr's : dutifull servt.
John Goode.
Janry. ye 30th: 1676.
[This paper is followed by " Bacon's Letter."]
Before the second month had elapsed Bacon was dead, and a number
of his followers had been hanged by the governor, Berkeley.
A century later, in 1776, Colonel Robert Goode, of " Whitby," great-
422 AN INTERESTING DIALOGUE, IN 1676
grandson of Bacon's adviser, was an active participant in a revolt which
proved successful, as were also a dozen or more of his kinsmen, at least
one of whom died in the struggle.
Two centuries later, in 1876, a visitor to " Whitby" would have found
it disfigured by long rows of earthworks, a part of the great system sur-
rounding the Confederate capital, which had grown up at the site of Ba-
con's plantation at the Falls, Inquiry would have revealed to him the fact
that at least one hundred of the descendants of its first owner were rest-
ing in the graves of Confederate soldiers — the victims of a third revolt far
more extensive than either of the others.
^^^WiJ^crt^
Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D. C.
HORACE GREELEY'S PRACTICAL ADVICE
an incident of reconstruction in mississippi
Editor Magazine of American History:
The time for an impartial history of the reconstruction of the states
forming the late Southern confederacy has not yet arrived. The elements
to be considered were, for the time, as pronounced and extreme as fire and
water ; as antagonistic as it is possible to array the citizens of a common
country or of a single commonwealth. Yet, there was much of good,
as well as evil, in these constituents.
The Southerners possess many of the best traits of the human family.
Having just emerged from a sanguinary contest, defeated, impoverished,
their pride humbled — forced, at the cannon's mouth and the point of the
bayonet, by their enemies, back into a Union they detested, their slaves
(chattels, property) made their equals before the law— we may spread the
mantle of charity and of oblivion over their errors, as they now extend to
every one within their borders the same rights and impartiality they assert
for themselves.
The freedmen as certainly possess marked and meritorious character-
istics which, properly developed and directed, will render them valuable
citizens. They must not be judged by the crowds that flock to the towns
and cities, where they occupy the police courts and fill the jails, nor by
the poor unfortunates who barely exist, too ignorant and indolent to
acquire land or secure the commonest comforts, but by the many who
have achieved eminence as scholars, teachers, preachers, lawyers, orators,
farmers, and mechanics. Not Douglass alone, but scores and scores can be
named, showing the great possibilities of the colored people. Of all others
they are the most universally musical. While they have not attained
to the modern artificial extravaganza in musical execution, yet at their
religious gatherings every one, male and female, old and young, educated
and unlettered, clean and unclean, well clothed and ragged, join in a
melodious music which is unequaled. The colored boys in tattered
garments who occupy the " upper tier" at the theatre and opera, and
smoke cast-away cigar-stubs, catch the most difficult and intricate pieces
of music, which they whistle or sing, carrying every part, on their way
home to some abode of poverty in the suburbs. Remotely, they were
4-4 HORACE GREELEY S PRACTICAL ADVICE
barbarians. After centuries of bondage, they were suddenly and violently
emancipated. They were what slavery had made them. Without educa-
tion or experience, they suddenly took seats in the constitutional conven-
tion, wherein they had a voice in framing the organic law. They became
legislators, state officers, magistrates, school directors, sheriffs, and mem-
bers of the boards governing, assessing, and taxing the counties. That
friction followed can surprise no one who recognizes poor human nature
as our common inheritance.
The " carpet-baggers," so called, like other parties, contained their
quota of good and bad, some of them being from the best society in the
North and West, and representatives of the highest business character of
those sections. The constitution framed under their lead was second to
no other of the states of the Union. So far there was much to praise
and to be proud of, and little to condemn. Of the succeeding legislatures,
the criticism is, in a measure, reversed.
In his own mind, the writer of these lines was one of the most radical
of radicals. He, however, with others, opposed questionable legislation
schemes, and urged the most expanded and munificent measures for
securing immigration.* Hence he was classed as a " conservative carpet-
bagger." With this class a liberal influx from the North and West
was esteemed a sine qua non to the permanence of a Republican gov-
ernment in that state. Intelligence and experience were essential to
supersede ignorance and inexperience, upon which latter no government
can be long maintained. Subsequent events confirmed these views by
the collapse of the Republican party of Mississippi, in the hour of trial,
through its own inherent weakness. The " conservative carpet-baggers,"
being in a minority, found their advice and opposition equally of little
avail. They, therefore, sought the interposition of distinguished friends
outside the state. Among others, the writer addressed a letter to Horace
Greeley, the life-long champion of justice and right. The reply of that
eminent man was as follows:
A, . c. New York Tribune March 23, 1870
My dear Sir J' /
I have little faith, in commissioners or Boards of Immigration. In fact
I take no stock in them. My way of attracting immigration is by ;
1 Good laws, thoroughly enforced.
" Judge Tarbell was esteemed in Mississippi as an upright judge," says Secretary Lamar,
and the reports of his decisions attest his extraordinary ability and industry. His reputation for
integrity was unquestioned ; he commanded the confidence of both political parties during all his
varied experiences on the bench. — Editor.
HORACE GREELEY'S PRACTICAL ADVICE 425
2 Cheap and simple government, low salaries, light taxes.
3 Impartial justice to every one regardless of caste, or color, secured
by an upright judiciary.
4 Making the state too hot for blacklegs, duelists, harlots, rum-sellers,
etc.
5 Avoid public debt.
Such is my very short programme for atracting immigration. It has the
advantage at least of not costing a cent. You are welcome to communi-
cate it to any who are interested in the subject
Yours
Horace Greeley
Addressed to
J. Tarbell Esq. Jackson,
Mississippi.
With a long period in the history of this country the name of Horace
Greeley is indissolubly associated. Whatever bears his signature will
command universal attention. Rarely, if ever, were more or better
sentiments expressed in the same space than in his letter herein intro-
duced. Cardinal Gibbons, at the recent centennial of the United States
Constitution, said of that immortal document, that " it was worthy of
being written in letters of gold." The same may be said of Mr. Greeley's
letter. This being impracticable, the next best thing, if not a better
thing, is to print it in the Magazine of American History. His advice
will remain for all time a standard for new and old states alike.
The writer has been a delighted subscriber to the Magazine of Ameri-
can History since its first issue in January, 1877.
Washington, D. C, October, 1887.
Vol. XVIII.— No. 5.-29
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 1800
The camp-meeting, a characteristic of Methodism that has continued
in a more or less modified form down to our own days, had its origin in
the necessities of the time. Along the border, wherever the remote cab-
ins of the settlers might be placed, there statedly appeared the self-sacri-
ficing, restless, laborious circuit-rider, armed with his Bible, hymn-book
and his " license " to preach. He was not a man of worldly polish or of
scholarly attainments. He was rude, uncouth, and unkempt, in fitting
harmony with his surroundings. If he could read his Bible and write his
name he was held to have all the literary qualifications desirable in his
place, and even more than were deemed essential. He had, however,
what he regarded as greater qualifications for the sacred office. He had
" experienced " religion, and he had a gift of speech. Not for him was
it to
" Spread his little jeweled hand,
And smile round all the parish beauties,
And pat his curls, and smooth his band,
Meet prelude to his saintly duties."
Not for him, indeed ; but with an earnestness, an unction, and a vehe-
mence not to be misunderstood, he declared his mission and called on
men everywhere to repent of their sins, and turn unto God.
Churches on the frontier were few and widely separated from each
other. Religious services were generally held in private houses, and the
families from the scattered cabins came long distances to hear the Word.
The beginning of the present century was a period of great religious inter-
est. Preachers and revivalists, with and without commissions, roamed at
large over the country and particularly among the newer settlements*
finning vigorously the flames of religious zeal and enthusiasm. Among
these roving evangelists were two brothers, John and William Magee.
The first was a Methodist local preacher, the second was a Presbyterian
minister. In the latter part of the year 1799 they started from their set-
tlement in Tennessee to make a preaching tour into Kentucky. Their
first labors were with a Presbyterian church on Red River, where remark-
able effects attended their labors, and excited such general interest that,
at their next meeting, on Mtiddy River, many distant families came with
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF l800 427
wagons and camped in the woods. This was, in fact, the beginning of
religious " camp-meetings" in the United States.'*
The camp-meeting, thus composite in its origin, was for some time an
institution favored alike by Methodists, Presbyterians, and Baptists. One
of the most famous of the early camp-meetings, that one known as the
Cane Ridge camp-meeting, was held by the Presbyterians in August, 1801.
Cane Ridge is in Bourbon county, Kentucky, and was within the congre-
gational limits of the Rev. Robert W. Finley, a Presbyterian minister.
The camp-meetings already held at Cabin Creek, Point Pleasant, Indian
Creek, and other places, and the wonderful manifestations of the " divine
presence " on those occasions, had been much talked about among the
people. As the labors of the field were now about finished for the season,
the scattered settlers came together at Cane Ridge. " Multitudes that
might not be numbered," says Nevin, " began to assemble. From the
remotest corners of the border, thirty, forty, fifty miles away, they gathered
in. All day long, and through the night, crowds were to be seen pressing
eagerly, earnestly on, their faces set Zionward, in wagons, on sleds, afoot,
' upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon
swift beasts.' Roads, lanes, trails, all passable ways of approach, swarmed
with train following train of pilgrims ; the tramp of their progress uproot-
ing the sod, which hoof and wheel, till then, of customary travel had
scarcely scarred, and grinding the clodded surface of the soil to powder.
Whole communities, including not merely the men, women, and children,
but slaves and dogs even, gathered in companies and joined the general
procession, leaving only an obliging neighbor, here and there, to keep
watch in the depopulated settlements during their absence. When all
were congregated it is estimated that there were from twenty to twenty-
five thousand people on the ground." f This camp-meeting was famous
not only for its immense size, but for the strange and powerful manifesta-
tions that appeared among the people. We may add that the Rev. Mr.
Finley, under whose auspices this meeting was conducted, afterwards con-
nected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church. In the year 18 12
he entered the ministry of that denomination. He was the father of the
Rev. James B. Finley, a distinguished preacher in the Methodist Church
in the West, and known to the present generation as the author of an
Autobiography, Wyandot Mission, Memories of Prison Life, and other
works.
* A Compendious History of American Methodism. By Abel Stevens, LL.D. Page 403.
\ Black Robes ; or, Sketches of Missions and Ministers in the Wilderness and on the Border.
By Robert P. Nevin. Page 250.
428 THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 180O
The history of the church in the West eighty years ago is studded
with the names of those who did valiant service for their Master — Asbury,
Finley, Cartwright, Dow, and others. Lorenzo Dow was a genius so
eccentric, and attracted so much notice for many years, that he deserves
more than a mere passing mention. He was born in Connecticut in 1777.
From his earliest years he had been burdened with a sense of his sinful-
ness and the fear of perdition. The history of his early struggles to es-
cape from his thralldom reminds one of Bunyan. When about fifteen or
sixteen years of age he was converted, under the preaching of the cele-
brated Hope Hull. It was a happy deliverance. " The burden of sin and
guilt," he says, "and the fear of hell, vanished from my mind as percepti-
bly as a hundred pounds weight falling from a man's shoulder : my soul
flowed out in love to God, to his ways and to his people ; yea, and to all
mankind." *
Dow began preaching in the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1798,
when but eighteen years of age. The next year, however, he gave up
his regular work for a roving mission. His irregularities resulted in his
being dropped from the roll of the conference, and he was never again
regularly connected with the itinerancy. He traveled extensively through
England, Ireland, and the United States, preaching everywhere as he went.
He often rode forty or fifty miles a day, and preached four or five times.
His manner and appearance excited great curiosity, and his startling and
eccentric statements were widely circulated. f He died in Washington,
D. C, in 1834.
The camp-meeting was soon abandoned by the other sects, but was re-
tained and cherished as a means of grace by the Methodists. There was
something in it peculiarly suited to the genius of that denomination.
Methodism has thriven and grown strong very largely through its instru-
mentality. The tented grove wras the delight of such spiritual warriors
as Lorenzo Dow and Peter Cartwright. It was there that they dared the
devil to his teeth, and it was there that their great victories over the adver-
sary were won. It was there that thousands and tens of thousands of
benighted and oppressed souls struggled forth into regions of light and
liberty. The camp-meeting has been refined away until it has become little
more than a pleasant summer resort with a quasi-religious attachment ;
but there are old Methodists who look back to the rude seats under the
trees, the preachers' stand of rough boards, the simple tabernacles of cotton
* The Dealings of God, Man, and the Devil, as Exemplified in the Life, Expedience, ana
Travels of Lorenzo Dow, etc., page 12.
f Cyclopedia of Methodism. Edited by Matthew Simpson, D.D., etc. Page 309.
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 1 800 429
cloth— who recall the earnest exhortations, the zealous pleadings, the
spirited hymns and melodies, with all the longings and regrets with which
the dispersed Israelites remembered Zion.
The religious services in the early border settlements were sometimes
the scene of a good deal of turbulence and disorder. The devil did not
allow himself to be defied with impunity. His friends were frequently
very active in his behalf. Fire-crackers were often thrown upon Brother
Nolley when in the pulpit, and while he was on his knees praying; but he
would shut his eyes that he might not be disturbed by menaces, and
preach and pray on with overwhelming power.'7' At a camp-meeting in
Powhatan county, Virginia, " the Lord," says Dow, " was precious ; but the
wicked strove to trouble us. . . . Twenty-five combined together to
give me a flogging. They ransacked the camp to find me, whilst I was tak-
ing some repose. This was the first discovery of their project ; as I went
out of the tent, one was seen to cock a pistol towards me, whilst a voice
wras heard, ' There he is ! there he is ! ' My friends forced me into the tent.
Next day I had one of the young men arrested, and two others fled before
they could be taken. The young man acknowledged his error, and prom-
ised never to do the like again ; so we let him go." f
This was not Peter Cartwright's method, who was a strong, courageous,
two-fisted man, a part of whose creed it was, as he says, " to love everybody,
but to fear no one." He did not contemn the arm of flesh. At a camp-meet-
ing at which he was present, a great rabble once collected for the express
purpose of breaking up the meeting. Sunday morning, when Cartwright was
about half through his sermon, two well-dressed young men, with loaded
whips, came into the congregation with their hats on, and stood up not far
from the preachers' stand, and began talking to the ladies, and laughing.
Cartwright requested them to sit down and behave, but they swore at him,
and told him to mind his own business. Cartwright then stopped preach-
ing and called on the magistrates to enforce order ; but though there were
two of those officers at hand they seemed to be afraid to attempt to arrest
the disturbers of the meeting. Cartwright then told the magistrates to
order him to take the rowdies. " I advanced toward them," says he.
" They ordered me to stand off, but I advanced. One of them made a
pass at my head with his whip, but I closed in with him, and jerked him
off the seat. A regular scuffle ensued. The congregation by this time
were all in commotion. I heard the magistrates give general orders, com-
manding all friends of order to aid in suppressing the riot. In the scuffle
* Stevens's American Methodism^ p. 431.
\ Dow's Dealings of God, tic, p. 94.
43< THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 180O
I threw my prisoner down, and held him fast ; he tried his best to get
loose ; I told him to be quiet or I would pound his chest well. The mob
rose, and rushed to the rescue of the two prisoners, for they had taken the
other young man also. An old drunken magistrate came up to me and
ordered me to let my prisoner go. I told him I should not. He swore if I
did not he would knock me down. I told him to crack away. Then one
of my friends, at my request took hold of my prisoner, and the drunken
justice made a pass at me ; but I parried the stroke and seized him by the
collar and hair of the head, and fetching him a sudden jerk forward
brought him to the ground and jumped on him. I told him to be quiet or
I would pound him well. The mob then rushed to the scene ; they
knocked down seven magistrates, and several preachers and others. I gave
up my drunken prisoner to another, and threw myself in front of the
friends of order. Just at this moment the ringleader of the mob and I
met ; he made three passes at me, intending to knock me down. The last
time he struck at me, by the force of his own effort he threw the side of
his face toward me. It seemed at that moment I had not power to resist
temptation, and I struck a sudden blow in the burr of the ear and dropped
him to the earth. Just at that moment the friends of order rushed by-
hundreds on the mob knocking them down in every direction. In a few
minutes the place became too strait for the mob, and they wheeled and
fled."* The upshot of the matter was that about thirty of the mob were
taken prisoners and afterwards heavily fined. This was but one of the
many instances in which Cartwright appealed to his own prowess to settle
the disorderly elements of the frontier.
After this battle, a gloom rested on the encampment for the rest of
the day. Cartwright, however, was undaunted. He asked the presiding
elder for permission to preach that evening. " Do," said the elder, " for
there is no other man on the ground can do it." Accordingly, the encamp-
ment was lighted up, the trumpet was blown, and the people assembled.
Cartwright took for his text the words : " The gates of hell shall not pre-
vail/' His voice was strong and clear; his preaching was more of an ex-
hortation and encouragement than anything else. " In about thirty
minutes," he says, " the power of God fell on the congregation in such a
manner as is seldom seen ; the people fell in every direction, right and left,
front and rear. It was supposed that not less than three hundred fell like
dead men in mighty battle ; and there was no need of calling mourners, for
they were strewed all over the camp-ground ; loud wailings went up to
. / utohiography of Peter Cartwright, the Backwoods Preacher. Edited by W. P. Strickland.
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF ISOO 43 l
heaven from sinners for mercy, and a general shout from Christians, so that
the noise was heard afar off."
Besides the thousands of conversions at these camp-meetings, there were
also strange. physical manifestations, such as falling, jerking, barking, etc.
We have just seen how multitudes fell under the preaching of Peter Cart-
wright. Strong men fell suddenly, and lay for hours helpless. No man
was proof against this attack. Cartwright says that one Sunday night a
gang of rowdies that had come to disturb him fell by dozens, right and left,
while one whom he calls his " special persecutor " suddenly dropped down
as if a rifle-ball had passed through his heart. " He lay powerless, and
seemed cramped all over, till next morning ; and about sunrise he began
to come to. With a smile on his countenance, he then sprang up, and
bounded all over the camp-ground, with swelling shouts of glory and vic-
tory, that almost seemed to shake the encampment." The religious history
of those times is full of such cases. When some parties had fallen, and
certain physicians who were present declared their belief that they were
only simulating, Dow answered : " The weather is warm, and we are in a
perspiration, whilst they are as cold as corpses, which cannot be done by
human art." When it was suggested that it was the work of the devil,
Dow replied: " If it be the devil's work, they will use the dialect of hell,
when they come to " — which of course they did not do. When they recov-
ered, they invariably shouted, and praised God, and declared their joy and
happiness.
Another phenomenon, even more strange and afflicting than the falling
attacks, was that which was popularly called the jerks. This was a violent
and involuntary twitching and jerking of the limbs. From the jerks no-
body was safe, nor were they confined as to time and place. Suddenly, and
however engaged, the victim was seized with a powerful muscular spasm,
so that he was obliged to lay hold of some object for partial relief, while
the convulsions were sometimes so violent that, in the case of ladies, " their
long, loose hair," says Cartwright, " would crack almost as loud as a wag-
oner's whip." But while people were liable to the jerks anywhere, as might
be expected, they were most common and violent at the religious meetings.
Lorenzo Dow relates, with a touch of humor, that at first the Quakers said
that the Methodists and Presbyterians had the jerks because they sang and
prayed so much; but they themselves, being a quiet and peaceful people,
were not troubled in this way ; at one of Dow's meetings, however, at
which a number of them were present, "about a dozen of them," says he,
" had the jerks as keen and as powerful as any I had seen, so as to have oc-
casioned a kind of grunt or groan when they would jerk." He relates that,
4;2 THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OE 180O
passing by a place where a camp-meeting had been held, he noticed that
from fifty to a hundred saplings had been cut off and left standing about
breast high. Upon inquiring why this had been done, he was informed
that the saplings had been left thus for the people to jerk by. " This so
excited my attention," says he, " that I went over the ground to view it ;
and found where the people had laid hold of them and jerked so powerfully
that they had kicked up the earth as a horse stamping flies." Dow, to
whom this exercise of jerking was familiar, remarks : " It is involuntary,
yet requires the consent of the will, i. c, the people are taken jerking irre-
sistibly, and if they strive to resist it worries them much, yet is attended
with no bodily pain ; and those who are exercised to dance (which in the
pious seems an antidote to the jerks) if they resist, it brings deadness and
barrenness over the mind ; but when they yield to it they feel happy, al-
though it is a great cross ; there is a heavenly smile and solemnity on the
countenance, which carries a great conviction to the minds of beholders ;
their eyes when dancing seem to be fixed upwards as if upon an invisible
object, and they are lost to all below." *
Peter Cartwright also had his experience with the jerks and the jerkers.
" At one of my appointments in 1804," he says, " there was a very large
congregation turned out to hear the Kentucky boy, as they called me.
Among the rest there were two very finely dressed, fashionable young
ladies, attended by two brothers with loaded horsewhips. Although the
house was large, it was crowded. The two young ladies, coming in late,
took their seats near where I stood, and their two brothers stood in the door.
I was a little unwell, and I had a phial of peppermint in my pocket. Before
I commenced preaching I took out my phial and swallowed a little of the
peppermint. While I was preaching, the congregation was melted into
tears. The two young gentlemen moved off to the yard fence, and both
the young ladies took the jerks, and they were greatly mortified about it.
There was a great stir in the congregation. Some wept, some shouted,
and before our meeting closed several were converted. As I dismissed the
assembly a man stepped up to me and warned me to be on my guard, for
he had heard the two brothers swear they would horsewhip me when meet-
ing was out for giving their sisters the jerks. 'Well,' said I, ' I'll see to
that.'
" I went out and said to the young men that I understood they intend-
ed to horsewhip me for giving their sisters the jerks. One replied that he
did. I undertook to expostulate with him on the absurdity of the charge
against me ; but he swore I need not deny it, for he had seen me take out
* Dow'.s Dealings of God, etc. , p. 99.
THE RELIGIOUS MOVEMENT OF 1 8oo 433
a phial in which I carried some truck that gave his sisters the jerks. As
quick as thought it came into my mind how I would get clear of my whip-
ping, and, jerking out the peppermint phial, said I : ' Yes ; if I gave your
sisters the jerks I'll give them to you.' In a moment I saw he was scared.
I moved toward him, he backed ; I advanced, and he wheeled and ran,
warning me not to come near him or he would kill me. It raised the laugh
on him, and I escaped my whipping. I had the pleasure before the year
was out of seeing all four soundly converted to God, and I took them into
the church."
How to account for these phenomena we do not know, and shall not
attempt to explain. Cartwright accounted for the jerks very simply, as he
would no doubt have accounted for the other manifestations. '' I always
looked upon the jerks," says he, " as a judgment sent from God ; first, to
bring sinners to repentance, and secondly, to show professors that God
could work with or without means, and that he could work over and above
means, and do whatsoever seemeth him good, to the glory of his grace
and the salvation of the world. There is no doubt in my mind that with
weak-minded, ignorant, and superstitious persons there was a great deal of
sympathetic feeling with many that claimed to be under the influence of
this jerking exercise ; and yet, with many, it was perfectly involuntary. It
was, on all occasions, my practice to recommend fervent prayer as a rem-
edy, and it almost universally proved an effectual antidote."
The moral and religious world, like the physical world, is subject to
periods of internal agitation and upheaval, and one of these periods seems
to have been at and about the beginning of the present century. The in-
dications of that upheaval still exist in the long ridges that lie across the
face of our early church history.
€Z^tA^
MINOR TOPICS
BEECHER HUMOR
Dr. Joseph Parker, in his recent eulogy on Mr. Beecher, said :
" God himself made Henry Ward Beecher a humorist, gave him a taste for com-
edy, and enriched him with the grace of playfulness. He prayed the better that he
laughed so well. His tears were the tenderer because his humor was so sponta-
neous and abundant. He never laughed at truth, at virtue, at piety, at poverty, at
helplessness. He laughed at the fools who undertook to roll back the ocean, to
grasp the infinite and to be themselves the God whose existence they denied.
It is not much to say that to many preachers Mr. Beecher's method gave a new
conception of the possibility of preaching. The whole idea of the sermon was en-
larged. A sermon was no longer an analysis of words, a dreary creation and a
distribution of particulars, a pedantic display of learned ignorance, an onslaught
(tremendous in feebleness) upon absent doubters and dead infidels ; nor was it
a pious whine, an inoffensive platitude, an infantile homily, or a condiment for
delicate souls. It was an amazing combination of philosophy, poetry, emotion,
and human enthusiasm — all centered in Christ, and all intended to bring men
into right relations with the Father. The sermon was not an object to be gazed
at, but a gospel to be received, a divine gospel addressed to the sinful, the broken-
hearted, the lost, the hopeless. It was a message from Heaven; a message for
all lands, all times, all souls ; a message whose moral majesty lost nothing on
account of its human sympathy, but gained the more by reason of its tender tears
and its eager importunity.
In Mr. Beecher's hands the sermon never affrighted men ; never froze men ;
never repelled men. It was the loveliness of love, the very heart of sympathy, the
very condescension of God. Nor, though so rich in sentiment, was it ever weak.
Behind all the tears there was a reason that had adopted its conclusions in the day-
light; a philosophy that weighed evidence in scales of righteousness; an intellectual
audacity that tried the spirits, whether they were of God."
The following extracts are from Eleanor Kirk's Beecher as a Humorist, noticed
in another part of the magazine. Here we have Mr. Beecher's own words ;
You cannot make a man laugh because he ought to laugh. You may analyze
a jest or a flash of wit, and present it to the man, saying: " Here are the elements
of mirth, and these being presented to you as I now present them, if you are a
rational being you will accept the statement of them and laugh." But nobody
laughs so. People laugh first and afterward think why they laughed. The feeling
of mirth is first excited, and afterward the intellect analyzes that which produced
minor topics 435
the laughter. It connects into an idea that which was first an emotion or an ex-
perience.— Sermon : Heart Conviction.
" Why, what did you go to Boston for ? "
"Well, that's a pretty question ! That's the only place to go to ! Why, if a
man wants anything he alius goes to Boston. Everything goes there just as nat-
ural as if that city was the moon, and everything else was water, and had to go
like the tides. Don't you know all the railroads go to Boston ? And sailors say —
you ask Tommy Taft — if you start anywhere clear down in Floridy, and keep up
along the coast, you will fetch up in Boston. They have to keep things tied up
around there. They fasten their trees down, and have their fences hitched or they
would all of 'em whirl to Boston. They have watchers set every night, or so many things
would come to admire Boston that the city would be covered down like Hercula-
neum. Of course the doctor went to Boston. Every single one of the first class
folks was married off the week afore he got there, but one ; there was just one
left. But she was the very last of the lot. The doctor saw her in Old South
Church. She was a-singin', ' Come, ye disconsolate.' The minute she set her eyes
on the doctor ! " — Norwood : Hiram Beers.
I never saw a man who was large enough to report the whole truth in respect to
anything which he looked at. It has not been considered safe, I think, in Heaven
where the manufactory of men is, to put everything in everybody. The result is
that one man carries so much, and another so much. Why, it takes about twenty men
make one sound man. — Sermon : Christian Sympathy \
On one occasion a well-intentioned but feeble-minded, feeble-voiced woman
arose in Plymouth prayer-meeting and meandered on for a long time in mystical
meaningless talk. When she finally sat down, Mr. Beecher (who had sat motion-
less, with downcast eyes, all the while) looked up with the play of a humorous
twinkle on his face, but said, with a perfectly serious voice, " Nevertheless — I am
in favor of women's speaking. Sing eight thirty-eight " — or whatever the num-
ber of the hymn was. — Editor of Beecher as a Humorist.
Natural genius is but the soil, which let alone runs to weeds. If it is to bear
fruit and harvests worth the reaping, no matter how good the soil is, it must be
plowed and tilled with incessant care. — Lectures on Preaching.
A compliment is praise crystallized. It bears about the same relation to praise
that proverbs do to formal philosophy, or that form does to poetry. — Eyes and
Ears.
436 MINOR TOPICS
Did you ever know a person who could pray down an arithmetic ? Did you ever
know a person who, going to school and finding himself puzzled by a tough prob-
lem, could get it solved by asking God to solve it for him ? Did you ever know
anvbodv to accomplish anything intelligently except by legitimate head-work ? —
Lecture-room Talks.
The Bible is like a telescope. If a man looks through his telescope, then he sees
worlds beyond ; but if he looks at his telescope, then he does not see anything but
that. — Sermon : The Way of Coming to Christ.
Good men, you know, pay all the taxes of bad men. Virtuous men pay the
state bills of dissipated men. Patriotic men pay all the war bills of unpatriotic
men. Citizens that stay at home pay the expenses of politicians that go racketing
about the country and do nothing but mischief. — Sermon: The Strong to Bear with
the Weak.
A LAMENT
0 woe is me, and woe is me ! to tell the tale I'm telling now !
And to relate the bitter grief that's come to me in spelling, now !
I'm neither idle, nor a dunce. I take to study readily ;
1 see through Algebra at once ; Geometry goes steadily ;
Geography, and History, and Botany are dear to me ;
But Spelling is a mystery that never will be clear to me !
I know the rules all off by heart — a work beyond conception, sir —
But what's the use, when from the start each thing is an exception, sir !
Word after word exactly glides, until I have them pat, you know,
And then some dreadful letter slides, and there I am in statu quo !
I find a score that terminate precisely in t-i-o-n,
When suddenly, as sure as fate, one changes to c-i-o-n ;
Or something sounding just the same as something else not strange to you —
Indeed it's an outrageous shame — will floor you with a change or two.
I'd think o-u-g-h, of course, would be the same wherever found,
But though I tried till I was hoarse I think the same 'tis never found ;
'Twas "plough," and "through," and "cough," and "dough" — there's something
strange and dense in it !
Can any mortal learn to know this sound that has no sense in it ?
MINOR TOPICS 437
Some consonants must doubled be ; some consonants stay single, ma'am ;
The rules that twist the " final e " would make your senses tingle, ma'am !
And as for " 1," and "f," and "s," and "y," — which one to choose —
A cat might lose nine lives for less, and boys have only one to lose.
The words that end in " ing " and "ness " ; the compounds, and the primitives ;
The diphthongs all in such a mess ; the mixtures called " derivatives " ;
The horrid twists from " ce " to " ge " ; the y's which aren't wise at all —
Conspire to tease and addle me, as if I had no eyes at all !
If there were any single thing that followed where it ought be
Without some hidden catch or spring not in the place you thought 'twould be !
If there were any single rule that wouldn't break from under you —
But here the wise man and the fool must both fall in and blunder through !
O could I but the rascal reach, I'd surely find him killable !
The man who first invented speech and blundered on each syllable !
I'm not a dunce, I said before, in Logic or Geography,
But, oh ! my heart is sick and sore, with studying Orthography !
M. E. B., in Chautauqua Young Folks' Journal.
A SIGNIFICANT ADVERTISEMENT OF 1773
GENERAL WASHINGTON'S LANDS
[The following advertisement is taken from the Baltimore Advertiser and Jouincu of August 23,
1773, a copy of which is in possession of Dr. L. J. Allred, of Ocala, Fla., by whom it
is furnished.]
"Mount Vernon in Virginia, July 15, 1773. The Subscriber having obtained
Patents for upwards of TWENTY THOUSAND Acres of LAND on the Ohio
and Great Kanhawa (Ten Thousand of which are situated on the banks of the
first-mentioned river, between the mouths of the two Kanhawas, and the remainder
on the Great Kanhawa, or New River, from the mouth, or near it, upwards, in one
continued survey) proposes to divide the same into any sized tenements that may
be desired, and lease them upon moderate terms, allowing a reasonable number of
years rent free, provided, within the space of two years from next October, three
acres for every fifty contained in each lot, and porportionably for a lesser quan-
tity, shall be cleared, fenced, and tilled ; and that, by or before the time limited
for the commencement of the first rent, five acres for every hundred, and propor-
tionably, as above, shall be enclosed and laid down in good grass for meadow ;
MINOR TOPICS
and moreover, that at least fifty good fruit trees for every like quantity of land
shall be planted on the Premises.
Any persons inclinable to settle on these lands may be more fully informed of
the terms by applying to the subscriber, near Alexandria, or in his absence, to Mr.
1 I'XD WASHINGTON ; and would do well in communicating their intentions
before the ist of October next, in order that a sufficient number of lots may be
laid off to answer the demand.
As these lands are among the first which have been surveyed in the part of
the country they lie in, it is almost needless to premise that none can exceed them
in luxuriance of soil, or convenience of situation, all of them lying upon the banks
either of the Oliio or Kanhawa, and abounding with fine fish and wild fowl of vari-
ous kinds, so also in most excellent meadows, many of which (by the bountiful
hand of nature) are, in their present state, almost fit for the scythe. From every
part of these lands water carriage is now had to Fort Pitt, by an easy communica-
tion ; and from Fort Pitt, up the Monongahela, to Redstone, vessels of convenient
burthen, may and do pass continually ; from whence, by means of Cheat River,
and other navigable branches of the Monongahela, it is thought the portage to
Potowmack may, and will, be reduced within the compass of a few miles, to the
great ease and convenience of the settlers transporting the produce of their lands
to market. To which may be added, that as patents have now actually passed the
seals for the several tracts here offered to be leased, settlers on them may cultivate
and enjoy the lands in peace and safety, notwithstanding the unsettled counsels
respecting a new colony on the Ohio ; and as no sight money is to be paid for these
lands, and quitrent of two shillings sterling a hundred, demandable some years
hence only, it is highly presumable that they will always be held upon a more de-
sirable footing than where both these are laid on with a very heavy hand. And
it may not be amiss further to observe, that if the scheme for establishing a new
government on the Ohio, in the manner talked of, should ever be affected, these
must be among the most valuable lands in it, not only on account of the goodness
of soil, and the other advantages above enumerated, but from their contiguity to
the seat of government, which more that probable will be fixed at the mouth of the
Great Kanhawa,
GEORGE WASHINGTON.
W. S. P.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Two Interesting Letters
Facsimile of Autograph Letter of Governor George Clinton in 1753.
Addressed to Governor Hamilton, with some Intelligence.
[From the collection of Ferguson IIaines.\
U^ CA**>~rt& *%Hts$ V*!* 0 COrr* ni>U,n>% 1.&STLV ^W-ffu 'J/tfti *Qjty)j fattn vt C
CU (hCfiix "itXL, vs£jt2*/l* fhjL^i x^-, CC «/^;^>t,H-Cd>u^
/trim
w
v L^-TM^-Tt^ i tf&v (KtsTprx u Jen?* ivx. OCj **j? ~ flC v 1 ^ 1 '~fi<^
440 ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
QsiZfcisv* £ y Cy t j et*+^ +^n~r£\. <v*-&t^<j &ro_ji/p iJ<Ki 1 1 *x,
vx^i ICcnnuCsLjJtyr'v rnt, 7
*/- tfx
[The above Letter was read in council on the 7th of August, 1753.]
(Second Letter)
General Peter Muhlenberg to Colonel Richard C. Anderson, in 1794.
Conttibuted by Richard G. Lewis, Chillicothe, Ohio.
Address, j P. Muhlenberg— free.
FREE.
Col0 Richard C. Anderson
Jefferson County
Kentucky.
(The circle and the word " FREE " were evidently stamped on the letter by the Post Master.
It was folded, and sealed with wax, and addressed on the back of the sheet as common before the
days of envelopes, to Colonel Richard C. Anderson, Jefferson County, Kentucky.)
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS 44 I
Philadelphia June yth 1794.
Dear Sir,
I am Honored with your favor of the 13th of March and am much oblig'd to
you for the information it contains — I wrote you on the nth of Febry and enclosed
a reported Bill to enable the Officers and Soldiers of the Virga Line on Continen-
tal establishment, to obtain Patents for Lands on the West side of the Ohio — with
great difficulty this Bill pass'd the House, and was then sent to the Senate, where it
lay dormant until this Morning, and as the Session continues but one day longer
there is scarcely time to give it due consideration — The Senate have returned the
Bill with amendments, in a very questionable shape, which will probably be
decided on this day ; and I mean to keep my letter open until I can give you full
information — I should not have delayd so long my writing to you, had I not been
in daily expectation the Bill would pass, and I should have it in my power to trans-
mit it.
Since Col Greenup left us, our political situation has not varied much ; only
in this — That it now appears beyond a doubt, that Great Brittain at the time when
they were successful ag* the French, meant to break with us — this appears from
the conduct of their Officers in Canada and elsewhere, who are now acting agree-
ably to the principles adopted at that time, because the British Government have
not had time to countermand their former Orders — The Authentic News from
Europe is — That the King of Prussia has seceded from the combined powers —
That Spain is wavering — The French Navy rapidly increasing — The people of
Great Brittain murmuring — Denmark, Sweeden, and America Growling, all this
combined renders it more than probable that the French Republic will obtain that
Freedom and Independance for which they have so nobly fought. Col Greenup
has been good enough to promise me, that what money is wanting for Col
Croghan He will supply until I reimburse Him the next session — as to yourself I
hope to see you in the fall, and tho' I do not live in the city, I can always find
time enough to accompany you — Be pleased to present my best Respects to your
Lady and to Col Croghan and Family — On State Affairs of Kentucky I dare not
trust my thoughts to paper.
The Bill I alluded to has just pass'd with the amendments proposed by the
Senate — as it now stands tis neither Fish or Flesh — I can not get a copy but Mr.
Orr will bring it with Him.
I am Dear Sir
Your most Obed'. Serv1.
P. Muhlenberg.
Vol. XVIII.-No. 5.-^0
44-
NOTES
NOTES
Harvard catalogue — It is not
generally known probably that as late as
1S10 the Catalogue of Harvard Univer-
sity was printed on a broadside. The
Catalogue of that year is before me, on
a sheet of coarse paper, 16x20 inches.
It gives simply the names of the Faculty
and the students, the residences and
rooms of the latter. It seems almost
like the record of a past age to read the
names of Rev. John Thornton Kirkland,
D. D., as president, and of Rev. Henry
Ware, D.D., as professor of theology.
The names of Edward Everett, Nath.
L. Frothingham and Harrison E. Otis
appear among the " Senior Sophisters ; "
those of Franklin Dexter, Charles G. Lor-
ing and Peleg Sprague among the " Jun-
ior Sophisters ; " that of Elbridge
Gerry among the Sophomores ; and
those of Martin Brimmer, Francis W. P.
Greenwood, and Pliny Merrick among
the Freshmen. The whole number of
students was two hundred and eighteen.
Most of these came from Boston and
eastern Massachusetts; sixteen were from
Salem ; a very few from New Hampshire
and Connecticut (Maine was then a part
of Massachusetts); two from Vermont,
one each from New York, North Caro-
lina, Rhode Island, Virginia, Mississippi,
Georgia, Canada, St. Croix and Ja-
maica, West Indies, and the extraordi-
nary number of twelve from Charleston,
South Carolina.* The buildings in which
students roomed were Stoughton Hall,
* Is this one of the proofs of commercial and
social alliance between Massachusetts and South
•Una, which made Boston, especially in later
years, so obtuse to the wrong of slavery ?
Hollis Hall, Massachusetts Hall and Col-
lege House. D. F. L.
Manchester, Massachusetts.
Honorable mark skinner of Chi-
cago— In the death of this eminent ju-
rist we are stricken with a sense of per-
sonal bereavement. He was one of the
warm friends of The Magazine of
American History, and for many years
familiar with its every page.
He was the son of Richard Skinner, of
honored memory, who was 'chief justice
of the Supreme Court of Vermont, a
member of Congress and governor of
that state. The son, following in the
father's footsteps, became also a jurist, and
embodied in his life and personality abil-
ities, aims and sentiments which made
him a power for good in the city of his
adoption. No citizen of Chicago main-
tained a more secure hold on the respect
of her people, while those who came into
close relations with Judge Skinner were
bound to him by ties of peculiar strength.
Receiving his education at the East, he
settled in Chicago in 1836, so that he
shared in all her municipal history, exer-
cising a large influence in public affairs,
and doing much to perpetuate therein
his own high ideals. He served with
credit on the Circuit Court bench, and
after the expiration of his judicial term
he became the financial agent for the
Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance
Company, and other large Eastern organ-
izations, in the placing of loans on local
real estate. He was without a superior
as a real estate lawyer, and his judgment
has been confidently relied upon for a
NOTES
443
long series of years. The success of the
Connecticut Mutual company in that field
is sufficient evidence of his ability as a
financier. During the civil war, Judge
Skinner was most ardent in supporting
the Union cause, laboring indefatigably
at the head of the Sanitary Commission
of the Northwest. In the religious and
social life of Chicago he was always
prominent, being a leader in the Presby-
terian church and active in every good
cause. He had the gift of hospitality,
and was a most charming companion,
accomplished, responsive and genial. His
literary tastes were fine, and he had the
means and opportunity to gratify them
both in reading and travel. His library
was well and wisely chosen, and one of
the largest and most valuable in the West.
The degree of LL.D. was conferred upon
him by Middlebury College. But while
so thoroughly identified with Chicago,
Judge Skinner's interest in Vermont and
his peculiar attachment for Manchester
kept him closely allied with the old home
and her people. He adorned the ceme-
tery at Manchester, which is the pride of
the place, gave money to Middlebury
College, and in other ways manifested an
active regard for the region where his
summers were often spent. Judge Skin-
ner was seventy-four years of age when
he passed away.
THE CONSTITUTION
Fortress of a nation's life,
Builded in the battle smoke
When our freemen hearts awoke
Ready for the strife ;
Temple reared by labor vast,
Sealed with blood by heroes shed,
To the skies of freedom wed,
Towering over caste ;
Mightier than a tyrant's sway
Through the land from shore to shore,
We acclaim thee more and more
On thy natal day.
Magna Charta of the West,
Grander than the bulwark old,
We, Columbia's true sons, hold
Thy protection best.
In the one God still we trust,
Fearless of the shifts of fate ;
This is the watchword at our gale :
" Cling to what is just."
Raise on high our million-voice !
Let it ring from sea to sea !
In the name of Liberty,
Freemen, come rejoice.
J. J. J. ROONEY
Philadelphia, September 17, 1887.
Daniel webster — Editor of Maga-
zine of American History • It has been
said that Daniel Webster died of a
broken heart, caused by his losing the
Whig nomination, and I send the follow-
ing little incident, which is to the point.
The night after Webster lost the nomi-
nation, the Marine Band serenaded him.
On arriving at his house no light or
other sign of life was visible, but the
band played and the crowd cheered un-
til a window in the second story was
raised, and Webster appeared in his night
costume. When the deafening cheers
with which he was received had sub-
sided, he rested his hands on the win-
dow-sill, and leaning forward, spoke in a
clear yet sad tone. His concluding re-
marks were these — "Boys, I am glad to
see you, but this is the last time you will
hear my voice. I am going to my home,
and I feel that I am going to my home to
die." A few months later, October 24,
1852, he died at his home in Marsh field.
J. A. Stetson, Jr.
444
QUERIES
The prixgle family — The following
item appeared in the New York World
of September i, 1S87 : " Among the ar-
rivals by the steamship Aurania Sunday
list was Mr. Robert Pringle, W. S., of
Edinburgh, Scotland. He is of the
same kith as the Charleston family of
that name, whose founder was also Rob-
ert Pringle, one of the early colonial
judges, memorialized by Judge O'Nealin
his "Bench and Bar of South Carolina.'
Two members of the Charleston branch
were present at the Windsor Hotel to
meet their kinsman, and he will visit
Charleston before going back to his na-
tive city ; " an example, that perhaps
in this country stands by itself, of origi-
nal family identity and recognition, pre-
served for near two centuries, in spite of
wars and other changes, and of what Hor-
ace calls the " Oceano dissociabili " be-
sides. O. P. Q.
QUERIES
A PORTRAIT OF COLUMBUS — In the
New Jersey Gazette of April 26, 1784,
is the following paragraph, dated New
York, March 17 :
" We are informed that Mrs. Farmer,
of this city, has presented an excellent
original picture of the celebrated Chris-
topher Columbus, discoverer of the
American Continent, to the House of As-
sembly of this State, which has been re-
ceived by that honorable branch of the
legislature with expression of their
thanks for so valuable a present. The
House have ordered it to be placed in
their convention room."
Can any of the readers of the Maga-
zine of American History inform me of
the fate of this portrait ? Ch. C.
Century Club, 26th September, 1887.
Nelson's river — Editor Magazine of
American History : Will some of your
readers kindly inform me when and by
whom Nelson's River, which flows into
Hudson's Bay, was discovered, after
whom was it named, and where is to be
found the first account of its discovery?
In Douglass's Summary, 1755, it is
stated that Sir Thomas Button, fitted
out in 1612, " wintered miserably at Port
Nelson, in 57 deg. N. lat.," and that a
settlement was made there in 1673.
W. N.
Author of lines — Who wrote these
lines ? when ? where published ?
" Night, with her sandals dipped in dew.
Hath passed the evening's pearly gates,
And a single star in the cloudless blue
For the rising moon in silence waits."
D. N. R.
Davenport, Iowa.
The school law — Editor Magazine
American History : When was the act or
law passed setting apart the 16th section
for school purposes in the North West
Territory ? When was this survey made
in the N. W. T.? What was (in brief)
the act of 1785 ? Who was the author
of this act ?
E. A. Cantley
Logansport, Indiana.
The phelps family — The author of
the " Memorials of William E. Dodge,"
alluding to the ancestors of Anson G.
Phelps, of New York, says, " They came
REPLIES
445
of an ancient and honorable family in
Staffordshire, England, which embarked
at Plymouth in the Mary and John, 1630,
and settled first at Dorchester, Massa-
chusetts, and subsequently in Windsor,
Connecticut, the original pioneer being
George Phelps."
The writer has a genealogy of one
branch of the Phelps family going back
to William Phelps, born at Tewkesbury,
Gloucestershire, England, Aug. 19, 1599.
He also came to America in the Mary
and John, 1630, landed at Dorchester,
Massachusetts, and from thence to Wind-
sor, Connecticut. Palfrey says William
Phelps was a magistrate from 1639 to
1642. He was also one of the commis-
sioners to settle the boundary between
Massachusetts and Connecticut. The
will of John Porter, who died at Wind-
sor, Connecticut, 1648, twelve years after
the founding of the town, and which is
preserved in its records, has among other
signatures that of William Phelps as one
of the appraisers of the estate.
Were George and William representa-
tives of two distinct branches of the
Phelps family ? If not, How were they
related ? Did they come from the same
place in England ? E.
REPLIES
" Boodle " [xviii. 82, 171, 353] — The
word is of purely Dutch origin, and has
come down in this anciently Dutch city.
"Boedel," pronounced "boodle" in
Dutch as in English, means " household
stuff," and also "an estate left behind
by a deceased person." Thus an ad-
ministrator gets the boodle — in its pri-
mary sense.
Geo. W. Van Siclen,
Secretary of the Holland Society.
The stamp act [xviii. 82] was
brought into Parliament March 10
(Bancroft says February 13), 1765, and
having passed both houses (in the Com-
mons by a vote of about 250 to 50, and
in the Lords with practical unanimity),
received the royal assent March 22,1765,
being known as the Act of 5 Geo. III.,
c. 32. It was to go into operation
November 1, 1765. By Act 6 Geo. III.,
c. n, approved March 19, 1766, it was
enacted that the Stamp Act should stand
repealed after May 1, 1766. The repeal-
er received (February 22 — significant
date) in the Commons 275 votes to 167
against, and in the Lords it passed by
105 to 71. — Dodsley's Annual Register,
for 1765, pp. 33-3S; and for 1766, p.
194 ; Marshall's Washington, Ed. 1804,
II., 84-94 ; Gordon's Am. Rev., Ed.
1789, I., 126, 150 ; Graham s Hist. U.
S., Ed. 1845, IV., 201, 210, Note, 242-
3 ; Bancroft's Hist. U. S., Ed. 1852,
V., 243-8; Centenary Ed., III., 456,585;
Griffith's Hist. Notes, 21, Note. The
Stamp Act is given in full in Pitkin's
Hist. U. S., I., 433-442, and in Ritff-
head's Statutes at Large X., 18.
Wm. Nelson
Paterson, New Jersey.
" Who led the troops in the final
unsuccessful charge after arnold
was wounded at quebec in 1776. '*
[xviii. 350] — The writer of query in the
October Magazine of Ajnerican Histo?y,
44<5
REPLIES
says •' " Schuyler and Montgomery ad-
vanced by way of Lake Champlain and
Montreal, while Arnold went by way of
Albany." Two mistakes are involved
in this statement. Schuyler did not
proceed with the Champlain expedition
farther than St. Johns. He turned back
there by reason of sickness, and the com-
mand devolved upon Montgomery, and
was retained by him until his unfortunate
death under the rugged rocks of the city
of Quebec. Neither did Arnold march
by way of Albany. His expedition to
Canada started from Cambridge, near
Boston, where the American army was
then encamped, about the middle of
September, 1775, marched to Newbury-
port, where it was embarked on board of
ten transports and sailed for the mouth
of the Kennebec river. From there the
expedition was conducted in bateaux up
the Kennebec and Dead rivers, and
down the Chaudiere, and finally reached
Point Levi opposite Quebec.
The writer further says, that a reg-
iment of troops raised in Massachusetts
late in 1775, of which Elisha Porter was
colonel and Abner Morgan was major,
marched to Albany and joined Arnold
and shared his terrible march through
the wilderness. This statement is erro-
neous so far as the march from Albany
with Arnold is concerned, and my re-
searches have failed to connect the name
of Elisha Porter or Abner Morgan with
Arnold's expedition in any way.
Daniel Morgan, then captain of a com-
pany of Virginia riflemen, marched with
his company with Arnold from Cam-
bridge, and shared the hardships and pri-
vations of the expedition to Canada. He
was present at the disastrous assault upon
the city of Quebec, and led the final un-
successful charge, and was taken pris-
oner with all the forces he had under
him at that time. This fact, and the
identification of Captain Daniel Morgan
as the hero, are so fully established as
to be now removed from doubt. The
following is an extract from an ac-
count of the attack upon Quebec printed
in the New York Gazette at the time :
" However, the advanced party soon
reached the barrier and began the at-
tack, in which they were joined by Col-
onel Arnold himself, and supported by
Captain Daniel Morgan with his com-
pany of riflemen, who were in front
of the main body. In this onset, un-
fortunately — unfortunately, indeed —
Colonel Arnold received his wound and
was carried off, but notwithstanding
Captain Morgan and the first party ob-
tained possession of the battery of four
guns, took great part of the guard and a
number of inhabitants who surrendered
prisoners. In this situation they were
obliged to remain (not being supported
by the main body, who had not recov-
ered from their confusion so as to come
up) till joined by Lieutenant Steel with
Captain Smith's company, Captain Lamb
with his artillery company (who were
obliged to quit the field-piece, it being
impossible to bring it forward), Captain
Hendricks with part of his company,
and several of the musketeers from the
different companies (after regaining the
proper road), in all about two hundred.
When they again formed, and were
again led on by Captain Morgan (upon
whom the body then called as their
commanding officer), to force the second
barrier. . . . Force's American Archives,
REPLIES
447
Fourth Series, Vol. 4, p. 707. Substan-
tially the same account is given by Mar-
shall in his "Life of Washington," and
he derived his facts from the journal of
Colonel Wiriiam Heth, an American of-
ficer, who participated in the charge and
became a prisoner with the other officers
and soldiers who surrendered to the
enemy at that time.
In a letter from Harlem Heights,
dated September 28, 1776, General
Washington wrote to the President of
the Continental Congress, recommend-
ing the appointment of Captain Morgan
as colonel of a rifle regiment, and the
following is an extract from the letter :
"As Colonel Hugh Stephenson of the
rifle regiment ordered lately to be raised,
is dead, according to the information I
have received, I would beg leave to
recommend to the particular notice of
Congress Captain Daniel Morgan, just re-
turned among the prisoners from Can-
ada His conduct as an
officer on the expedition with General
Arnold last fall, his intrepid behavior in
the assault upon Quebec, where the
brave Montgomery fell, ... all in
my opinion entitle him to the favor of
Congress. . . ." Force's American
Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. 2, p. 589.
In a letter dated at Ticonderoga, No-
vember 6, 1776, General Arnold wrote
to General Washington as follows :
" Dear General : I beg leave to recom-
mend to your particular notice the fol-
lowing gentlemen, who were taken at
Quebec, and lately returned on their
parol, viz : Major Lamb and Captain
Lockwood of the artillery, Lieutenant
Colonel Oswald and Captain Morgan.
The two last went with me from Cam-
bridge." Force s Archives. Fifth Seru r,
Vol. 3, p. 550.
The foregoing facts seem sufficient for
the vindication of the truth of history,
and to show that Captain Daniel Mor-
gan led the troops on the final unsuccess-
ful charge after Arnold was wounded at
Quebec, but it was the last day of the
year 1775, and not in 1776.
J. O. Dykman
White Plains, Oct. 1, 1887.
Robert drummond [xviii. 27 2 J —
This noted New Jersey loyalist, born in
Aquackanoch, now Passaic, New Jersey,
as also his father before him, was a
merchant in that place, and both father
and son married into Dutch families
there. He was a grandson of Robert
Drummond of New York, who was driven
by persecution from Scotland in the
reign of James II., and in 1713 was
chosen high-sheriff ; but who about that
time removed to Elizabethtown, New
Jersey. He married Anne, widow of
Richard Hall of New York, whose
mother's second husband was the fa-
mous mayor Thomas Noel. Robert, the
grandson, was an active patriot at the
beginning of the revolution, and a mem-
ber of the Provincial Congress at Tren-
ton. After his defection his large prop-
erty was confiscated, but was partially
restored to his family at the end of the
war, through the influence of one of his
kinsmen. He died in England. For
the above facts we are indebted to the
courtesy of Mr. William Nelson, Secre-
tary of the New Jersey Historical So-
ciety. W. H.
New York, September 30.
44:
SOCIETIES
SOCIETIES
THE WEYMOUTH HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Massachusetts) held its first meeting
after the summer vacation on Wednes-
day evening, August 31, at the Tufts
Library, President Loud in the chair.
After the regular business of the society,
of which was the presentation by the
committee on nominations, of several
names for membership, a paper was read
by the secretary entitled : " An eventful
chapter in the history of the Old North
Church, Weymouth (Massachusetts),"
giving an extended sketch of the pastor-
ate of the Rev. Thomas Paine, and the
troubles attending it. This paper was
prepared with much care, and is of great
interest to the Weymouth people, cover-
ing as it does quite fully one of the most
critical periods in the history of that
venerable church. The secretary also
read the farewell address of Rev. Mr.
Paine to his people in Weymouth, from
a copy of the original document fur-
nished by Robert Treat Paine, a de-
scendant of the Weymouth minister.
It is exceedingly spicy reading, and
its plain-spoken and cutting words must
have been something of a surprise
coming from so gentle and courteous a
tongue.
THE RHODE ISLAND HISTORICAL SO-
CIETY held its quarterly meeting on the
evening of October 4, President Gam-
mell in the chair. Following the secre-
tary's report, Mr. William D. Ely, chair-
man of the committee appointed to ex-
amine and report upon the accuracy of
the date upon the seal of the society,
presented a valuable paper, which indi-
cated thorough and exhaustive research
and study, and was listened to with close
attention.
President Gammell, in commenting
upon the paper, said that it settled the
question, not only by general testimony,
but the analogies in regard to the cession
acquired in the three settlements. He
also incidentally referred to the contro-
versy between the state and society as to
the date which had stimulated the in-
quiry. On motion of Dr. C. W. Par-
sons, the thanks of the society were
voted to Mr. Ely, and the paper was re-
ferred to the publication committee to
be incorporated in the annual proceed-
ings of the society.
On motion of Secretary Perry, Mr.
Henry T. Drowne of New York, a native
of this state, and a corresponding mem-
ber of the society, was appointed as a
delegate to the celebration of the centen-
nial of Marietta, Ohio, in April, 1888.
Mr. Drowne is a grandson of Dr. Solo-
mon Drowne, one of the early settlers of
that place.
THE FAIRFIELD COUNTY HISTORICAL
society has issued its sixth annual re-
port in pamphlet form. The officers are
Rowland B. Lacey, president ; George
C. Waldo, Rev. Samuel Orcutt, General
William H. Noble, vice-presidents ;
Nathaniel E. Morden, M. D., recording
secretary ; Louis N. Middlebrook, cor-
responding secretary ; Richard C. Am-
bler, treasurer and curator ; George C.
Waldo, historian. During the last year
it has held thirteen meetings, and its
membership has increased to sixty.
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
When Bayard Taylor in 1847 determined to make an effort to support himsell in New
York by literary work, he wrote to Horace Greeley for advice on the subject, and received
the following characteristic reply : " I know nothing at present wherewith to tempt you
toward this city. We are in a vortex of literary and miscellaneous adventure. All the
aspiring talent and conceit of our own country and of Europe confront and crowd on our
pavements, and every newspaper or other periodical establishment is crowded with assist-
ants and weighed down with promises. It seems to me that two or three years' experi-
ence in a country village will better qualify you for a department in a city paper ; that, as
to study, time is everything, and that is very scarce with anybody's hirelings in this city.
Should you evince high qualities in your present position they will be noted, and your
services requested elsewhere. Life is very hurried and fretful in a great city."
The Rhode Island Society of the Cincinnati has appointed three hereditary members of
its body to represent it at the Ohio Centennial at Marietta on the 7th of April next. The
five ancestors of these gentleman were pioneers in Ohio, and three of them died at
Marietta. The three delegates are Colonel James M. Varnum, New York City ; Fred-
erick T. Sibley, Detroit, Michigan ; and Charles C. Emott, New York City.
It is a significant sign of the times, that in the recent celebration at Philadelphia of
the framing of the Constitution, the interest of the occasion was not confined to any sec-
tion of our vast country, or even within its boundaries. All Christendom seemed to look
on with admiration. Not less than half a million of people from the North and the South,
from ocean to ocean, of all ages and creeds, Catholics and Protestants, black and white,
and strangers from beyond the sea, flocked into the old historic capital, filling its homes,
hotels and streets to overflowing. Three fine, sunshiny days, with orderly crowds surging
in every direction, and no accidents to mar the general rejoicing in the preservation of
the Constitution, is an eloquent sermon in itself. The great industrial parade on the 15th
of September was the largest and the most impressive demonstration of the kind ever
witnessed on this continent. The military pageant on the 16th was also unparalleled in its
distinctive features — thousands of well-drilled, well-equipped and well-disciplined citizen
soldiers from the different states of the Union bore witness to the power of liberal govern-
ment in a land where professional military life and great standing armies are not. required.
The strength of the nation, and its reverence for the Constitution, were displayed as never
before within the hundred years of our national life. Ever since its adoption, our Consti-
tution has been the study of the best minds throughout the world, and the longer it stands,
fitting the needs of sixty millions as well as it did the three millions in its infancy, the
more respect it commands. The commemorative exercises on the 17th in Independ-
ence Square, in which the President of the United States participated, surrounded by the
most distinguished men of the country in religion, statesmanship, jurisprudence, law,
science and letters, will go into history not' only as a just tribute to the genius of the
framers of the Constitution, but as a stirring prophecy for coming generations. Should
our population of sixty millions treble in the next century, the action of the whole would
rest upon the same basis as now — the Constitution.
450 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
The celebration terminated with a notable banquet on the evening of the 17th, given
to the President of the United States by eight learned societies of Philadelphia, repre-
senting progress in arts, science and education since the birth of our nation. The
Academy of Music was turned into an enormous conservatory for the occasion. The
auditorium was arranged with scenic effects to represent a tropical garden with stone
terraces and statues ; and on every side giant (erns and evergreens were jeweled with
bright-colored tiowers. At each angle of this magnificent dining-hall were huge pyra-
mids of flowers, one representing the four seasons, the other science, art, agriculture,
and merchandise ; and overhead was a great floral bell. The President's table, raised
seven inches above the others, was so placed that he sat just under the proscenium in the
center of the house, and facing Mrs. Cleveland's box, which was lined with mirrors, and
transformed into a perfect bower of floral loveliness. The artistic menu cards, composed
of six leaves of heavy Japan paper, lightly tied with red, blue or burl ribbon, were illumi-
nated with delicate etchings. The frontispiece was an allegorical representation of History,
enumerating the deeds of 1887. The second leaf contained the proem. The third leaf
was devoted to the menu proper, the top-piece of which was a medallion encircled by a
snake, while at the bottom as a tail-piece an owl sat demurely on a telescope pointed at
a star. The fourth leaf contained the toast list, which we give in fac-simile, with the
coat of arms of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania as a head-piece, and Franklin flying
his famous kite as a tail-piece. The fifth leaf contained the names of the committee on
invitations, etched with a Vestal virgin feeding an eternal flame ; an olive branch for a
border, and a spider's web in the lower corner. The design on the sixth leaf we present
to our readers in fac-simile. The medals of the eight learned societies represented at the
banquet, entwined in olive leaves, surround the clasped book over which the eagle pre-
sides with spread wings. Some five hundred distinguished guests were seated at the
tables ; there was the President of the nation, an ex-President, an ex-Vice-President, the
chief-justice and justices of the Supreme Court, cabinet-ministers, the lieutenant-general
of the army, and numerous prominent army officers, a rear-admiral of the navy and his
staff, the governors of many of the states, ex-governors, presidents of colleges, and other
institutions of learning, authors, editors, the clergy, and foreign ministers. About eight
o'clock Mrs. Cleveland entered her box, and the diners rose from their seats and cheered
and shouted, waving their napkins for several minutes. Meanwhile the balcony was
quickly filled with ladies in full evening dress, and the scene, take it all in all, was one of
the most brilliant ever witnessed in America.
Responding to the toast "The President of the United States," the President said
in a clear ringing voice : " On such a day as this and in the atmosphere that now sur-
rounds us, it seems as if the President of the United States should be thoughtful and
modest, mindful of the high office he holds. To-day, in the presence of the memories of
the Constitution and its framers, it is especially fitting that the servant of the people, the
creature of the Constitution, in this centennial time should, by rigid self-examination,
inquire into the law of his existence. He will find the rules laid down for his guidance
require not that intellect, not that attainment that raises him above the common people :
but rather a knowledge of their wants and needs, and a sympathy with their condition.
If appalled by the solemnity of his position, he will find comfort in what the fathers of this
country wrought by an unswerving devotion to the people. I have the hope that if re-
verently invoked, the spirit of the Constitution will be sufficient for all our government.
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
431
Toasts.
1. The President of the United States.
Grover Cleveland.
President of the United States.
2. The Federal Judiciary. . Stanley matthf.ws,
j Associate Justice Supreme Court, U. S.
3. CONGRESS. . . * ■ . '. John James IngAlls,
President of the Senate.
4. The United States of J787. Fitz«uc« lee,
'&> Governor of Virginia.
^ p. THE UNITED STATES OF 188/. Charles Francis Adams,
- -4 of Massachusetts.
& THE ARMY. . . . . Philip H. Sheridan,
Lieutenant-General U. S. Army.
7. THE NAVY. . ' . . . Stephen B. Luce,
Rear Admiral U. 5. Navy.
8. England — Our Mother Country, sir lvon Playeair,
of Great Britain.
9. France-— Our Old Ally. . Marquis De chambrun,
of France .
10. American Education. . Andrew d. white, of New York.
it. The Centennial Commission. John a. Kassox, President.
Sk Honor and Immortality to the Members
of the Federal Convention of 1787
n of 1757. si<<f
Henry M. Hoyt, of PennsyrMniif:/
mm
the fourth LEAF O.' the menu card, containing the toast list.
Because the people of Philadelphia are more nearly related to the scenes of our early
history, more should they be imbued with a broad patriotism. The Continental Congress
and the Constitutional Assembly met here. Philadelphia has her Carpenters' Hall, Inde-
pendence Hall and bell, and the grave of Franklin. As I look about me and see so many
societies of culture, all of Philadelphia, showing a love for science, a devotion to art, a
45-
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
THE SIXTH LEAF OF THE MENU CARD.
care for broad education, a regard for historical research, I feel I am in notable company.
I o you is given the duty of protecting and preserving for all the inhabitants of your city,
your country and all mankind the incidents that marked the birth of the freest and best
government ever vouchsafed to man. It is a sacred trust, and as we as a nation get farther
and farther from the footsteps of the past, the nation exacts that the incidents should never
be tarnished, but brightly burnished should be held aloft, attracting the gaze of this people,
and keeping up a love for the Constitution."
BOOK NOTICES
453
BOOK NOTICES
A SHORT HISTORY OF ARCHITEC-
TURE. By Arthur Lyman Tuckerm^n.
i2mo, pp. 1.68. New York, 1887. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Few things are more noticeable in the material
progress of our American cities than the marked
development of taste, in connection with utility,
in the erection of public and private buildings.
It must be admitted that until a comparatively
recent date, the capitalist who ordered plans
from his architect did not as a rule allow the lat-
ter that scope for ornamental construction which
he, as a lover and student of art in architecture,
desires to express in the building he is to design.
This backwardness on the part of the owner to
exceed the boundary lines of absolute necessity
has proceeded partly from economical motives
and partly from an unappreciative sense of the
beauty of art, the cultivation of which does not
always go hand in hand with the accumulation
of personal riches. The beautiful and appropri-
ate in architecture must be learned, if not from
books and designs, from a study of and familiar-
ity with those erections abroad and at home
whose construction bears evidence of the genius
or talent of cultivated masters of the art.
The enormous increase of American tourists
in Europe has been productive among other ad-
vantages of a desire to transplant to this country
a taste for harmonious combinations and magnif-
icent effects such as can only be satisfactorily
appreciated by personal observation of what
ancient and modern art in architecture has pro-
duced during the progress of ages. The in-
creasing beauty of the buildings along our streets
and squares testifies to this fact. But the prin-
ciples of architecture can be mastered only by a
careful perusal of the books which treat upon
this subject, especially a history of the art from
its beginnings to its more recent manifestations.
The volume under notice presents these facts of
history in a concise and attractive form, which,
for the majority of readers, is what is wanted ;
for the majority of readers have neither the time
nor inclination to search libraries and pore over
intricate and scientific details to obtain such in-
formation. Mr. Tuckerman writes from obser-
vation and experience, and understands how to
present and illustrate his subject in such a man-
ner as to convey an immense amount of practical
information without disturbing the course of a
simple historical narrative. When he ventures
to intrude a personal observation, it is to awaken
in the mind of the reader a desire to cultivate a
love of the art for art's sake, and not for mere ma-
terial advantages. " In pursuing the study of so
vast and splendid an art," he says, " we should do
so with some feeling of reverence for its dignity,
not looking upon it as a mere money-making
trade, for the greatest architects the world has
known have been satisfied in being only worship-
ers at a great shrine. . . . All of our work
must reflect something of our inner thoughts,
and if we do not placethem upon a high plane it
is not possible for their reflection to contain what
is noble and true."
The illustrations in this little work, of less
than two hundred pages, are by the hand of the
author, and are admirably executed, as might be
expected from one of the architectural firm who
are now erecting in our Central Park the new
wings to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
THE PERSONAL MEMOIRS AND MILI-
TARY HISTORY OF U. S. GRANT versus
THE RECORD OF THE ARMY OF THE
POTOMAC. By Carswell McClellan.
121110, pp. 278. Boston, 1S87. Houghton,
Mifflin & Co.
The author of this volume, which is creating
a marked sensation among students of our great
civil war as well as among the critics and review-
ers, needs, perhaps, an introduction to the read-
ing public, since this is his first considerable
venture in the world of letters. As a military
man he is well known to the Army of of the Po-
tomac, having served on the staff of General
Andrew A. Humphreys as an aide and in other
capacities in connection with the topographical
and the adjutant-general's department. His
preface is so terse and significant that it deserves
quoting at length, or rather in brief, since it oc-
cupies barely six lines of type : " This volume
has grown from what was, at first, intended to
be a brief memorandum of service for private
use. It is offered to the public not as an at-
tempt to write or correct history, but earnestly
to ask that history already written shall be re-
membered." We notice that lie takes exception
to some of General Grant's expressed opinions :
"There are voices calling from other graves;
there are memories shrining other names pre-
cious to comrades and countrymen ; and it were
craven to stand in acquiescent silence while bias
strives anew to mar the record of manly effort
with detraction. . . . The object aimed at
now is, to incite investigation which shall de-
cide the historic value of this widely pub-
lished work. . . . While General Grant
has noticeably intensified some reflections con-
tained in General Badeau's books, he has offered
no protest to anything therein except in the
single instance of General Butler's operations at
Bermuda Hundred. Moreover he makes several
references to them as 'reliable authority,' and
this as is pointed out in the face of refutations
contained in General Humphreys' 'Virginia
454
BOOK NOTICES
Campaign of 1S64 and iS65."' These citations
sufficiently indicate the author's intention and
may serve fairly as the text on which the subse-
quent critical suggestions are based. The vol-
ume then aims firstly to point out where the
books prepared either by General Grant in per-
son, or which have received his indorsement, are
open to criticism, and secondly to refer to other
books and authorities which sustain his (the au-
thor's) view.
The volume is far, very far from being a
bibliography of war literature, though it may
be said to make a beginning in that direction,
and it is perhaps to be regretted that since
Colonel McClellan went so far and is presum-
ably so well equipped for the task, that he did
not complete the task to which his researches
obviously incited him, instead of preparing as it
were a brief for the guidance of some other
writer. That any mere mortal who has occu-
pied a commanding position of authority and
responsibility as did General Grant can write his
own autobiography and not meet with adverse
criticism is not to be expected. No man has
ever done it; none ever will do it. Every book
that has been written by a leader on either side
of our great civil struggle has made errors of
fact and of omission which have laid him open
to severe criticism. Colonel McClellan's chief
grounds of complaint appear to be the treatment
of Generals Meade and Humphreys in General
Grant's book ; but in view, doubtless, of his
plan of merely pointing out discrepancies, he
does not satisfactorily decide what is really the
truth in any general sense. That many of his
strictures rest upon a foundation of truth there
is reason to believe ; but how many of them are
to be accepted unreservedly in the light of all
contemporaneous events, must remain undeter-
mined until that historian appears for whom the
author according to his own showing has now
prepared the way.
TRANS-ALLEGHENY PIONEERS. His-
torical Sketches of the First White Settlements
West of the Alleghenies, 1748 and after. By
JOHN P. Hale. i2mo, pp 330. Cincin-
nati, Ohio : Samuel C. Cox & Co. 1887.
The opulence of historic interest which cen-
ters about the pioneers who penetrated the in-
hospitable wilderness of the trans- Allegheny
country is admirably illustrated in the volume
before us. As its author aptly remarks, "The
discovery, exploration, conquest, settlement and
civilization of a continent once accomplished in
this age, is done for all time; there are no more
continents to discover, no more worlds to con-
quer." Americans cannot learn too much about
the scenes and events that attended the trans-
formation of the savage wilds into hives of busy
industry. The author's ancestors — the Ingles
and Draper families (Scotch-Irish) were among
the first to scale the Allegheny mountains and
pitch their tents in the mysterious unknown be-
yond. Thus in sketching the frontier explora-
tions and settlements, and the Indian raids and
massacres along the entire Virginia border,
Mr. Hale has had peculiar advantages, of
which he has made excellent use. He thinks
that Colonel Abraham Wood, with a party of
hunters and traders, anticipated by many
years the famous exploits of Governor Spotts-
wood and his Knights of the Golden Horse-
shoe in passing the Blue Ridge. He describes
at some length the capture of his great -grand-
mother, Mrs. William Ingles, in 1755, the
day before Braddock's memorable defeat, by a
party of savages, and of her wonderful escape
from them and restoration to her friends. The
account reads like a distorted picture of the
imagination, and yet there seems not the slight-
est doubt of its truth. Mr. Hale says : " I do
not know in all history the record of a more
wonderful and heroic performance than that of
this brave little woman, all things considered.
Dr. Tanner's forty days' fast, in view of the con-
ditions and circumstances, dwindles into insig-
nificance compared with this. Mrs. Ingles
(when she reached the cabin of Adam Harman)
had not seen a fire for forty days ; she had not
tasted food except nuts, corn and berries, for
forty days ; she had not known shelter, except
caves, hollow logs or deserted camps, for forty
days ; she had not known a bed, except the bare
earth or leaves and moss, for forty days. She had
been constantly exposed to the danger of re-
capture and death by the savages ; danger from
wild beasts, from sickness, accident, exposure
and starvation, and danger from her compan-
ion— yet within those forty days she had run,
walked, crawled, climbed and waded seven or
eight hundred miles, including detours up and
down side streams, through a howling wilder-
ness, and was saved at last."
Events and incidents are as far as practicable
presented in chronological order, and the evi-
dence of care in the matter of dates is a con-
spicuous feature of the volume. The record is
of great value, and not only instructive in all its
details, but forms a narrative of adventures, ex-
periences and exploits as readable and interest-
ing as any romance.
THE LIFE OF FATHER ISAAC JAQUES,
Missionary Priest of the Society of Jesus,
slain by the Mohawk Iroquois in the present
State of New York, October 18, 1646. By
the Rev. Felix Martin, S. J. With Father
Jaques' account of the captivity and death of
his companion, Rene Goupil, slain Septem-
ber 29, 1642. Translated from the French by
BOOK NOTICES
455
John Gilmary Shea. i2mo, pp. 263.
18S5 : Benziger Brothers, New York, Cincin-
nati and St. Louis.
The name of Father Jaques is known to all
readers of the early Jesuit explorations of Amer-
ica, but mainly through casual mention of his
adventures, sufferings and saintly heroism. Un-
less we are mistaken, this is the only consider-
able volume that has been wholly devoted to a
record of his truly remarkable career. The
original account is in French, and John Gilmary
Shea is the present translator. The volume is
prefaced by a portrait which shows some of the
mutilation of hands and head which he suf-
fered during his captivity among the North
American Indians. The volume is accompanied
with maps and explanatory notes, and relates in
a most impressive manner the unequaled hero-
ism and intrepidity with which the Jesuits
carried the cross into the western wilderness.
THE TWO SPIES NATHAN HALE AND
JOHN ANDRE. By Benson J. Lossing,
LL. D. Illustrated. 8vo, pp. 169. New York:
D. Appleton & Co.
Mr. Lossing adds to the already long list of
his varied contributions to American history this
review of two lives whose tragic end must ever
be among the most romantic episodes of our
struggle for independence. Both young, both
brave, and each in his own way patriotic, they
have alike commanded sympathy and admiration
from impartial readers of history. The dishonor
that attaches to the name of "spyv does not
necessarily convict the man who bears it of un-
worthy motives, though while the laws of war
remain as they are, the ignoble death of the gal-
lows will no doubt be meted out to those who
.are taken in disguise within the enemy's lines.
Mr. Lossing has made careful search through all
the accessible records in regard to the two sub-
jects of his book, and has unearthed some mate-
rial that has not before been published in book
form in this country. Many illustrations, in-
cluding portraits, accompany the context, and the
volume will be valued by all who desire a com-
plete record of revolutionary times.
THREE GOOD GIANTS, whose famous deeds
are recorded in the Ancient Chronicles of
Francois Rabelais. Compiled from the French
by John Dimitry, A.M. [Illustrated by
Gustave Dore and A. Robida.] Square 4to,
pp. 246. Boston, 1888. Ticknor and Com-
pany.
This new translation of Rabelais appears with
the most objectionable features of the original
book entirely missing. Rabelais was a great
humorist, and his merry conceits in an age of
the world when cardinals and queens were not
over particular about the quality of the wit that
was supplied for their entertainment, were the
delight of both young and old of all classes and
conditions. Rabelais fashioned his quaint colos-
sal creations in ridicule of existing fantastico-
chivalric deeds. It is said that " lie neverappre-
ciated his Giants save for the contrasted jollity
they lent to his satires." Neither did the more
modern reading public appreciate them. Ra-
belais blunderingly, or through positive igno-
rance, lumbered his stories with philosophic rub-
bish that was the means of consigning them to a
long sleep through the centuries. Mr. Dimitry,
in awakening them, bore in mind the path
unconsciously taken in his boyhood — the
skipping of whole pages to pick out the real
story of the Giants, so rich in irresistible drollery.
And this is what he has skillfully done for the
laughter- loving children of to-day — cut away all
the barnacles and seaweed, leaving the Giants
only with their train of mysterious and impos-
sible comrades. In the long evenings of the
coming season of snow-banks and warm fires,
many a group of liitle ones under the shady lamp
will revel over the funny account of the wooden
horses of the giant boy, Gargentua, until the
hour for pleasant dreams ; or laugh themselves
to sleep over the six pilgrims in the garden,
who, hiding behind the lettuce leaves, were swal-
lowed by the same giant in a salad. The illus-
trations add greatly to the value of the book, of
which there are one hundred and seventy-five,
by Gustave Dore and Anton Robida.
THE MAKING OF THE GREAT WEST,
by Samuel Adams Drake. Illustrated.
i2mo, pp. 339. New York : Chas. Scribner's
Sons, 18S7.
Uniform with " The making of New England"
and by the same author, we now have the pres-
ent volume, similar in motive, and equally well
adapted to the wants of the times. It deals for
the most part with the region lying west of the
Mississippi River, a third volume being con-
templated which shall treat of that which was
once the West, but which now embraces the cen-
tral and most prosperous and populous portion of
the United States.
LONGFELLOW'S DAYS. THE LONG-
FELLOW PROSE BIRTHDAY BOOK.
Edited by Laura Winthrop Johnson. Illus-
trated. 161110, pp. 421. Boston, 1S88.
Ticknor & Company.
Nothing more appropriate for a gift during the
approaching holidays could be devised than this
exquisite little birthday book just issued by the
enterprising publishers, Ticknor & Company.
456
BOOK NOTICES
It consists of extracts from the journals and let-
ters of Henry W. Longfellow, arranged for each
day in the year, the opposite page being left
blank for autographs. It contains many gems
of thought and words of wisdom. As we open
the book at random we read, " Human life is
made up mostly of a series of little disappoint-
ments and little pleasures ; " on another page
we strike the passage, " ' It is not enough to be
a great man.' says the French proverb, ' but you
must come at the right time.' " We cordially
commend this little treasure to all book-buyers.
LIFE NOTES OR FIFTY YEARS' OUT-
LOOK. By William Hague, D.D. i2mo.
pp 362. Boston, 1S88. Lee & Shepard.
Dr. Hague was one of the most scholarly
divines of his time, and all his accomplishments
and acquirements were of the highest order. He
died at Boston in July last, just after reading the
last proof-sheets of this interesting book of per-
sonal reminiscences. He had an extensive ac-
quaintance and has given much important in-
formation about the men and events of the last
fifty years. What he says about the collisions of
opinions on the anti-slavery question in its early
stages is of special note. His impressions of
Aaron Burr, whom he saw two or three times a
week for successive years, forms the subject of a
spirited chapter. He was thoroughly captivated
by the spell of Burr's genius for winning social
sympathy. Dr. Hague's life was marked espe-
cially by ministerial, literary, educational, and
philanthropic achievement. He was a clergy-
man of profound religious convictions and of
rare persuasive eloquence. He was born in
Westchester County, New York, in 1808, and
was a graduate of Hamilton College in 1826.
The volume is to some extent in the form of an
autobiography, and it is written in a terse, en-
gaging style. It is a work of value, and will
find a permanent place in historic literature.
UNCLE RUTHERFORD'S ATTIC. A story
for girls. By Joanna H. Mathews. With
original illustrations. i2mo, pp. 282. New
York, 1887. Frederick A. Stokes, successor
to White, Stokes & Allen.
The author of this new story for girls holds a
high place in the heart of the great American
reading public. She has written between forty
and fifty story-books, and her admirers are
Legion. The first of her famous Bessie Books
was produced in trying to wile away the tedium
of a sick room to which she was confined ; it was
purely imaginary, based on no special incidents
of which she had any knowledge, and was com-
posed without thought of publication. But book
after book followed, until the number seemed
almost fabulous. Her rare vivacity and talent
for story telling is a natural gift. Her father,
Rev. Dr. James M. Mathews, of the old Garden-
Street Church, and long chancellor of the Uni-
versity of the city, was a distinguished author ;
and she is a grand- daughter on her mother's side
of Philip Hone, the accomplished and popular
mayor of New York. Whether inherited or
otherwise there is a charm about Miss Mathews'
writings that always insures them a warm wel-
come in every cultivated household. We can
heartily commend " Uncle Rutherford's Attic"
as one of the brightest and best books of its
kind with which we are acquainted.
BEECHER AS A HUMORIST. Selections
from the published works of Henry Ward
Beecher. Compiled by Eleanor Kirk.
121110, pp. 213. New York, 1887. Fords,
Howard & Hurlbert.
This book is delightfully characteristic of Mr.
Beecher. "There is nothing that so covers the
nerves, there is nothing that so tempers anger
and passion, there is nothing that is such a nat-
ural cure for discontent, there is nothing that
brings men to such a companionable level, and
creates such fellowship, as the divine spirit of
mirth." These are Mr. Beecher's own words,
and their force is illustrated in almost every feat-
ure of his career. He never went out of his
way to joke, or to avoid one ; but when the
ludicrous presented itself to his mind, he was
likely to flash it at those whom he was address-
ing. Thus in some of his gravest and grandest
efforts in the pulpit the spontaneity of his
humor was marvelous. Eleanor Kiik has per-
formed a precious service for the admirers of
Mr. Beecher in her collection of bright passages
from his published works. She has made a book
that every one will feel that they must possess.
It would be difficult to say which part of this lit-
tle volume is best — the shorter or the longer ex-
tracts. It is all captivating and instructive.
From one of his sermons we find the following
quotation : " The church is not obligatory any
more than Fulton Ferry is. I can refuse to
cross the river on the ferryboat, and say,' I won't
pay the cent or two cents ; I am going to swim.'
I should have a right to swim if I preferred, but
I should be a fool if I did. And if you say,' I
do not want to join the church,' you are under
no obligation to join it." And there are few who
can read the last thing in the book, " The Old
Man's Journey," describing the death of Tommy
Taft (from " Norwood "), without a constant
struggle between tears and laughter, and a final
feeling of tenderness and trust in the Divine
Fatherhood that a thousand sermons would fail
to produce.
LAFAYETTE IN 1824.
\Engraved from portrait in the collection of Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet.]
MAGAZINE OF AMERICAN HISTORY
Vol. XVIII DECEMBER, 1887 No. 6
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
SOME INCIDENTS IN CONNECTION WITH LAFAYETTE'S VISIT
rHE travels of Lafayette through the United States in 1824 and 1825,
as the honored guest of the nation, if sketched in minute detail,
would introduce the reader to all the distinguished men of America at
that time, and present an exhibition of art, education, industry, agricul-
ture, manufactures, the picturesque features of the country, and the
condition of affairs in general, as found in no other popular record.
It will be remembered that Lafayette made his celebrated tour through
the length and breadth of our land six years before the ground was broken,
with a silver spade, for the first railroad (at Schenectady, July 29, 1830)
in the state of New York. That he came at a period in American history
when capital had, simultaneously with the marvelous leap forward in a grand
career of national prosperity, distributed itself in channels of the utmost
present and future interest and importance ; when the development of
industries, schemes of benevolence, the education of the laboring classes,
and enterprises of internal improvement were overlapping each other
in the public mind, and were the all-absorbing topics of conversation in
business circles, in the drawing-room, and at the banquet table. Lafayette
saw the man of wealth measured according to his intelligent pushing at
the wheel of progress, and found intellectual activity and achievement the
prevailing fashion. New York, for instance, had within eight years raised
and applied to the support of common schools over nine millions of dollars,
together with large sums bestowed upon colleges, and for the advancement
of science and literature ; and her Erie Canal — the greatest work of internal
improvement the world had then known — was nearly completed. La-
fayette was astonished at the changes time had wrought in forty years.
*' Albany as I have known it, and Albany as it is now — a comparative
standard between royal guardianship and the self-government of the peo-
ple : may this difference be more and more illustrated at home, and under-
stood abroad," was the toast he offered at the banquet given in his honor by
the citizens of the capital of the Empire State. Albany as he had known it
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6.-31
45«
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YFARS AGO
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OUR COUNTRY FIFTY VEARS AGO 459
during the Revolution was only " a snug little city perched on a hill." I [e
was last there in 1784, with the commissioners who were about to execute
a treaty with the Mohawks and Senecas, at Fort Schuyler. Albany as he-
found it two score years later is best shown through the picturesque
sketches by the celebrated Milbert, published in Paris in 1826— a series of
views that are rare, and little known in this country at the present time.
And when Lafayette had gone through the eastern, middle, southern
and western states, traversing the land from Maine to Louisiana, from
the Atlantic to the Mississippi, and was once more in New York, he re-
marked with emphasis, in a speech made on the 4th of July, 1825 : "At
every step of my visit through the twenty-four United States, I have had
to admire wonders of creation and improvement ! "
Looking backward through the vista of half a century, we find it diffi-
cult to realize that when Lafayette made these toilsome journeys railroads
were unknown, the telegraph had not been invented, gas as an element of
light was a myth, stages were the only means of public conveyance, the
population of Boston had scarcely reached fifty thousand, and New York
and Philadelphia were in a chronic conjecture as to which would be the
largest city in the course of years. One New York paper said: '' New
York is more easy of access, both from the ocean and the interior; but
Philadelphia is thought to possess counterbalancing advantages in the
coal mines, and the superior facility of the circumjacent territory. Some
centuries hence New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore will probably
present such a tripoli as the world never saw before." Lafayette visited
Boston twice — in August, 1824, and in June, 1825 — making the entire
journey through New England on both occasions in a private carriage.
When he went to Philadelphia, one of the newspapers said : " The public
mind is so highly excited by the arrival of Lafayette, that ten thousand
persons have visited his portrait at the coffee-house." The current ac-
counts of the landing and reception of Lafayette in New York on the 15th
and 16th of August, 1824, read like fairy stories. The 15th was Sunday, and
Lafayette was conducted from his ship to the residence of the Vice-Presi-
dent, on Staten Island. On Monday all business in the city was suspended,
and thousands of people crowded the streets and housetops from the
towns in the vicinity, to witness the pageant and catch glimpses of the
illustrious French general. The evening journals went to press early,
and then closed their offices for the day. On the 17th they chronicled the
proceedings in brilliant and effective style. " The most interesting sight,"
said the Evening Post, "was the reception of the general by his old com-
panions in arms — Colonel Marinus Willett, now in his eighty-fifth year ;
460
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
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OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO af,i
General (Philip) Van Cortlandt, General Clarkson, Colonel Varick, Colonel
Piatt, Colonel Trumbull, and several members of the Cincinnati. He
embraced them all affectionately, and Colonel Willett again and a gain.
He knew and remembered them all. It was a reunion of a long-separated
family. After the ceremony of embracing and congratulations was over,
he (Lafayette) sat down alongside Colonel Willett, who grew young
again and fought his battles all o'er. ' Do you remember,' said he, ' at
the battle of Monmouth, I was volunteer aide to General Scott ? I saw
you in the heat of battle. You were but a boy, but you were a serious,
sedate lad. Ay, ay ; I remember well. And on the Mohawk, I sent you
fifty Indians, and you wrote me that they set up such a yell that they
frightened the British horse, and they ran one way and the Indians
another!' Innumerable anecdotes of the Revolution and reminiscences
were rehearsed during the passage to the city from Staten Island.
Occasionally the steamboat would run alongside and give three cheers."
The New York Mirror, speaking of Lafayette, remarked : " Every paper
teems with his praises, every lip seems to delight in uttering his name.
Gentlemen are ready to throw by their business to shake him by the hand,
and ladies forget their lovers to dream of him. If a man asks, ' Have you
seen him ? ' you know who he means."
The animated scenes attending his landing at Castle Garden, upon
a carpeted stairway, under a magnificent arch, richly decorated with flags
and wreaths of laurel, while groups of escorting vessels, alive with ladies
and gentlemen, and adorned in the most fanciful manner, circled about ;
and the prolonged shouts of hosts of people, and the roar of cannon
echoed far away over the waters, together with the parade in Broadway,
the reception at City Hall, the speeches, the banquet, and the illumina-
tion— are all more familiar to the public of to-day than many other feat-
ures of the historic visit. Lafayette spent Tuesday, Wednesday, and
Thursday in shaking hands and sight-seeing in New York, and on Friday,
August 20, left for Providence and Boston. The journey was performed
in a carriage drawn by four beautiful white horses, and he was accompa-
nied by several gentlemen in carriages and on horseback. All through Con-
necticut business was suspended ; the farmer left his field and the mer-
chant his counting-room ; children in the schools were given a holiday, and
old and young, in their best attire, congregated along the roadside, and, in
many instances, waited for hours to see him pass. A correspondent of the
press attending described the drivers, who " wore silk ribbons fastened to
the buttons of their waistcoats by way of distinction ; and, while waiting
to receive their illustrious passengers, usually became persons of no incon-
-p-
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY VEARS AGO 463
siderable consequence and attention with the hundreds who stood about.
' Behave pretty, now, Charley,' said the driver of Lafayette's coach, to one
of his horses ; ' behave pretty, Charley — you are going to carry the great-
est man in the world.' " We are further told that " there were no charges
for the general and his suite, or the committee in attendance — food, lodg-
ing* gates, bridges, etc. — everything along the route was free. At Harlem,
the general paused for some minutes under a tree, on the other side of
the river, and received the congratulations of the residents of Morrisania,
among whom were observed several ladies on horseback, tastefully mounted,
who paid their respects with a grace, elegance, and feeling which was
highly gratifying. ... At West Farms, at West Chester, and East Chester,
the inhabitants were assembled en masse, and the waving of handkerchiefs
and scarfs, amidst the animated plaudits and cheering, gave the general a
heartfelt assurance of welcome. . . . Arrived at New Rochelle, the scene
was brilliant in the extreme. ' Do you remember, general,' asked an old
soldier, ' who began the attack at Brandywine ? ' ' Ah ! yes ; it was Max-
well, with the Jersey troops ! ' ' So it was ! So it was ! ' replied the de-
lighted interrogator. ' Well, I was with his brigade.' ' At Greenwich, at
Norwalk, at Stamford, the enthusiasm was intense. The newspaper corre-
spondent further informs us : " The general arrived at Fairfield about half-
past ten at night, where great preparations had been made for his reception.
He had been expected in the afternoon, and twelve hundred or more people
were collected. The ladies formed on one side of the green, and the gentle-
men on the other, the girls in the schools placed in a row immediately in
front of the ladies, and the boys in front of the gentlemen. A table was
spread at the hotel by the young ladies of Fairfield, the decorations of
which were in a style of the greatest elegance. The dishes were enveloped
with evergreens and scattering flowers, like some fairy's enchanted garden ;
and when this verdant veil was removed, the scene was changed as sud-
denly as at the dissolving of a spell. On inquiry being made by one of the
city delegation after the repast, for the bill of expenses, the reply was that
there was nothing to pay ; that Connecticut had heard much of the cheap-
ness of traveling on the New York canal, and how, ' out there in the West,'
a man could ride cheaper than he could walk, and was anxious to give a
specimen of traveling on her own turnpikes."
At New Haven, the same writer tells us, Lafayette was received in the
morning by Governor Wolcott and the mayor and corporation of the city,
with whom, after the presentation ceremonies, he breakfasted. He had
been expected the day before, and the city had been brilliantly illuminated
that evening. Now the disappointed throng were made happy in greeting
464
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
s S
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO 465
him. Immediately after breakfast " he proceeded to the green in a car-
riage, and he was drawn — will you think it? — by the people. He also
visited the college, and was everywhere received with the greatest delight.
The old and the young, the beautiful and the brave, arrived to be intro-
duced, and 'to have the honor of shaking him by the hand. He was to
proceed to Saybrook in the afternoon, on his way to Boston. ... At
Providence Lafayette alighted in front of the state-house and was re-
ceived in a peculiarly interesting manner. The poplar avenue leading to
the building was lined on each side with nearly two hundred misses, arrayed
in white, protected by a file of soldiers on each side, and holding in their
hands bunches of flowers which, as the general passed on, they strewed in
his path."
It was a gala day in Boston, on the 24th of August, when Lafayette
was received in that renowned city. Among the decorated arches thrown
across her streets the Centinel describes one over Washington street, by
the Boylston Market, on the spot once shaded by the " Liberty tree ;"
and another across the same street, " above South Boston bridge, near the
spot where, when Lafayette left the town in 1784, were the remains of a
breastwork erected during the Revolutionary War." Similar honors were
showered upon the illustrious traveler as he proceeded to Newburyport,
Salem, and through the northern New England states. He returned by
way of Hartford, where he was handsomely entertained, and thence to
New York by the steamer Oliver Ellswortli.
He had hastened his return to be in time for the great dinner on the
6th of September, given in honor of his sixty-seventh birthday, by the
Society of the Cincinnati. Washington Hall wTas decorated for the occa-
sion in the most unique and elegant manner that ingenuity could devise.
" Over the head of the general," says one of the newspapers of the day,
" was sprung a triumphal arch of laurels and evergreens, in the centre of
which appeared a large American eagle, with a scroll in his beak bearing
the words, ' September 6th, 1757/ — the day and year in which Lafayette
was born." At the close of the feast, " when the guest of the evening rose
and proposed a toast, a splendid transparent painting was illuminated and
unveiled, displaying to the company in large characters the word WEL-
COME ; and directly over the head of the general was dropped a beautiful
wreath of laurels. The scene was most effective."
Meanwhile the genius of New York had been taxed to its utmost
capacity in preparing for a grand fete to be given to Lafayette at Castle
Garden, on the 14th of September. The principal managers were General
Mapes, General Morton, General Fleming, General Benedict, Colonel
466
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
2 a.
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO 467
King, Colonel W. H. Maxwell, Mr. Colden, and Mr. Lynch. The Evening
Post, in chronicling that event the next day, said : " We hazard nothing in
saying it was the most magnificent fete given under cover in the world.
. . . It was a festival that realizes all that we read of in the Persian talcs
or Arabian Nights, which dazzled the eye and bewildered the imagination,
and which produced so many powerful combinations, by magnificent
preparations, as to set description almost at defiance. We never saw
ladies more brilliantly dressed— everything that fashion and elegance
could devise was used on the occasion. Their head-dresses were prin-
cipally of flowers, with ornamented combs, and some with plumes of ostrich
feathers. White and black lace dresses over satin were mostly worn,
with a profusion of steel ornaments and neck chains of gold and
silver, suspended to which were beautiful gold and silver badge medals,
bearing a likeness of Lafayette, manufactured for the occasion. The
gentlemen had suspended from the button-holes of their coats a similar
likeness, and, with the ladies, had the same stamped on their gloves. A
belt or sash, with a likeness of the general, and entwined with a chaplet of
roses, also formed part of the dress of the ladies. Foreigners who were
present admitted they had never seen anything equal to this fete in the
several countries from which they came — the blaze of light and beauty, the
decorations of the military officers, the combination of rich colors which
met the eye at every glance, the brilliant circle of fashion in the galleries,
everything in the range of sight being inexpressibly beautiful, and doing
great credit and honor to the managers and all engaged in this novel spec-
tacle. The guests numbered several thousand, but there was abundant
room for the dancing, which commenced at an early hour, and was kept'up
until about three o'clock in the morning."
Lafayette then proceeded to Albany, stopping at all the principal
points on the Hudson. His movements were without waste of time, for
he had reached Philadelphia on the 27th of September. A journalist
writes from there : " The reception of General Lafayette in this city was
brilliant beyond all description. It has far exceeded public expectation.
He arrived about eleven o'clock (September 27), preceded by the com-
mittee and corporation ; he was in an elegant barouche, with postilions and
outriders in rich and appropriate liveries, and drawn by six horses. The
streets through which he passed presented one solid mass of population,
and the houses were lined with beauty, taste, and fashion. The sashes
were taken out of the windows, so as to admit three or four ranges of
heads. The number of arches was immense, and they were elegant in the
extreme. In the evening the city was splendidly illuminated."
46I
OUR C
OUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
L-'.
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YKAkS AGO 469
He went to Baltimore, to Washington, to the capital of Virginia, and
on, as before stated, to every quarter of the Union. With the June roses
of 1825 he was again in New England. The following is an extract from
the Boston, Centinel, June 18, 1825 : " The celebration of the fiftieth anni-
versary of the memorable battle of Bunker Hill, and the ceremony of
laying the foundation-stone of an obelisk to commemorate the great event,
have taken place. As public journalists, it is our duty to record the pro-
ceedings of the day ; but we feel unable to do anything like justice
to the splendor of the scenes which passed, or to the excellent spirit and
enthusiastic good-feeling which animated with an unanimous impulse an
assemblage which it is believed to be no exaggeration to estimate at one
hundred and fifty thousand, collected from every state in the Union.
''One of the old soldiers who took a part in the Bunker Hill battle was
present at the celebration, wearing the same coat which he wore in the
battle, and which has in it no less than nine btdlet-holcs"
The most novel and humorous entertainment given to Lafayette and
his suite was at the State in Schuylkill, on the 25th of July, 1825, a short
time before he returned to France. The Club, or Fishing Company, that in-
vited him to their little domain, then within seven years of its one hun-
dredth birthday, was the oldest club in America.* It owned one acre of
land on the beautiful river, fenced in and improved, with buildings suited
to its purposes, called the State in Schuylkill ; and it had an independently
organized government, and a code of laws of its own. The 1st of October
was its annual election day, when it chose a governor, five members for its
miniature legislature, a sheriff, and a coroner. The governor appointed
a secretary of state. On these important occasions the club usually
feasted on barbecued pig prepared by the members, sirloin steaks, and the
products of the rod and gun. The steaks were cooked over wood coals
quickly, being constantly turned, and served the instant they were ready,
thereby losing none of their flavor and juices. Neither fork nor knife
were ever allowed to penetrate the meats of these Schuylkill epicures, but
beefsteak tongs, imported from England, were used in turning them. The
various fish were boiled or broiled with the greatest skill and ceremony.
The highest officers of the State were often seen battling with a twelve-
pound salmon, or nailing a shad to a board to be roasted before the fire.
* It was founded under the name of the "Colony in Schuylkill." in 1732, but received its
present charter name on the declaration of its independence. " Unique in its character, it is un-
equaled in its permanency, as it ever has been unsurpassed in the success of its sportive citizens,
and their general respectability, as members of the community." " An Authentic Historical Me-
moir of the Fishing Company of the State in Schuylkill: from its establishment on that romantic-
stream, near Philadelphia, in 1732, to the present time. By a member : 1S30." N. V. Hist. Soc.
47°
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY VEARS AGO
47 »
The coroner was an important personage in the club kitchen, and inspected
all the work cf the citizens who were appointed in turn to market for the
banquets. The club had a famous punch-bowl, with a curious wooden
dipper, and. to this bowl the citizens, tradition says, brought their male-
infants to be baptized by the governor, as the bowl was large enough to
admit of total immersion. The heir so baptized would naturally inherit
the father's citizenship. An English writer, in 1759, s'*id of this club:
" The first and most distinguished people of the colony are of this society,
and it is very advantageous to a stranger to be introduced to it, as he
thereby gets acquainted with the best and most respected company in Phila-
delphia." The club closely resembled the famous Beefsteak Club of Lon-
don, three years its junior. The original minutes of its meetings, in refer-
ence to inviting Lafayette " to eat with the club," and in preparing for his
reception, are, through a curious chain of circumstances, at this moment
in the hands of the writer. The bill of wants for the banquet, as first
drafted, was as follows :
1 Pig.
1 Round of beef.
1 Ham.
2 pair Ducks.
1 fish.
25 pounds beefsteak,
suet.
7 lobsters.
j gallon Brandy.
1-2 mixture.
5 gallons wine.
1 Box claret.
2 cases cigars.
Almonds.
Raisons.
Olives.
Cheese.
Crackers.
Bread.
Butter.
Eggs.
Ice.
Seasoning.
Oil.
Flour.
Vegetables.
Lemons.
Oranges.
William Milner, esq., secretary of the State in Schuylkill, wrote to
Thomas Morris, on the 22d of July :
"Dear Coz : As I am engaged entirely with the general, I must get you to attend
to all the arrangements for his reception at the Castle on Thursday, and rally all the fisher-
men. I have invited Judge Peters, an old member, and would suggest that we invite the
committee of councils. You can put the mayor down on your list. I would propose a
meeting for arrangement, elect the general an honorary member, present him with a
certificate, and let him sign his name in our minute book. On his arrival let the gover-
nor and council, with the members, meet him at the north end of the castle, give him wel-
come, let the Belles, I mean the Be//, be rung, let the standard be supported on his arrival
by 3 bearers, and the old one should also be produced. On such an occasion a little
extra expense may be incurred by having some fruit, and an Ice Cream, and if Market
Street hill produces a Rock fish let us have it. I will try to procure a shad or two.
I shall bring the general at about one o'clock. A small Ham would be well, and in
lieu of a table cloth the general should at least have a napkin, and silver spoons would
not be amiss. Let there be no servants, but every man have a clean apron to put on at
4f 2 OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
dinner. These are some of the outlines. The Rule as to invitations of one for each mem-
ber to be observed, except the governor and council should give a special invitation.
Yours, W. M.
"Thomas Morris, esq."
On the 24th Morris wrote to Milner:
" I would propose you should get the seal of State to place upon the certificate of our
newly elected member. The Hat I have sent by my boy ; you will please tell the general
it is the one in which he was initiated."
Lafayette was received by the company, habited in fisherman's garb,
with white linen aprons and ample straw hats, formed in open file facing
inward, near the south front entrance to the Castle, the three banners
supported on the right, and was addressed thus:
" The Governor, council, and citizens of Schuylkill greet you, and the gentlemen ac-
companying you, with a cordial welcome to the State in Schuylkill. Your visit here com-
pletes your tour to all the States in the Union. We possess but a limited territory and
population, but there are no limits to the joy we feel on this auspicious occasion. It is
now nearly a century since some of the worthiest and most eminent men of our parent
colony of Pennsylvania associated on the banks of our beautiful river, and founded this
institution, with a view to occasional relaxation from the cares and fatigue of business.
The waters and woods furnished abundance of game, and the pursuit of it and its prepa-
ration for the festive board at once contributed to the delight and the health of the sports-
men. No event (save the war of the Revolution, in which you, sir, bore so distinguished
a part) ever interrupted the amusements of the Fishing Company of the colony in Schuyl-
kill. Its independence is coeval with the close of that contest, when its surviving citizen
soldiery, exchanging the sword and the musket for the angling-rod and fowling-piece, re-
assembled as freemen, declared the independence of the State, and adopted that constitu-
tion of government, under which, like her associated sisters of the Union, she has con-
tinued to prosper, and her citizens to enjoy those sporting privileges and frugal festivities
you will witness and partake of this day."
To which the general promptly replied :
" I feel sincere pleasure in visiting your ancient institution, so pleasantly planted on
the banks of your beautiful river. It is the more grateful to me, as it completes my tour
to all the. states in the Union. About half a century ago I first crossed this stream in
time of peril ; far different now are the sensations I realize in meeting my friends on so
pleasant an occasion. I feel honored by your polite invitation to your most agreeable
state in Schuylkill — may you long continue happy and prosperous."
The whole party then proceeded to inspect the interior arrangements
of the Castle, culinary establishment, fleet, and grounds of the company,
with which, and its novelty, the visitors expressed themselves highly de-
lighted. Having been presented on his entrance with a certificate of honor-
ary membership as a duly qualified citizen, Lafayette was adorned with a
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
473
THE NATURAL BRIDGE IN VIRGINIA.
[Front J. Milberfs Picturesque Sketches in America. Published in Paris in i8->6.]
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6.-32
4 "4
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO 475
CU.
2%Io~^z
™y
Ott^
^--^u-^r<
<sflA*-j?
<£^e^
hat and apron, and as the members and visitors went to work industriously,
he expressed a desire to do his duty, and was employed in turning beef-
steaks on the gridiron. The cooking of the dinner was exclusively the
work of the members and visitors, each one having a particular dish as-
signed to him to prepare, and was held strictly accountable for its being
ready at the exact hour. The inexperts in the way of cooking were em-
ployed in spreading the table, and attending to the lighter duties. The
banquet was served at four o'clock, and the wit and humor, the mirth
and the hilarity, the speeches and the songs, were rarely if ever excelled.
Among the thirteen toasts were :
476
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO
INDIAN UKOOK IN VILLA CENTURIONIS PHILLIPS.
\Frotn y. Milbert's Picturesgtfe Sketches on the Hudson. Published in Paris in 1826.]
OUR COUNTRY FIFTY YEARS AGO 477
1. National Gratitude: The brightest jewel in a nation's diadem.
2. The Heroes of the Revolution: Living or dead, their glory is im-
perishable.
6. Our Army : Composed of freemen appreciating their rights and capa-
ble of vindicMting them.
7. Our Sister States: May they severally remember the sage admo-
nition of Washington, that in union consists the strength and durabil-
ity of the national edifice.
9. The State in Schuylkill: Its sportive citizens may be proud of their
ancestry, and should prove themselves worthy descendants.
10. Our Country : The prized home of the native, the welcome- retreat
of the oppressed.
n. France: Our magnanimous ally, the country of Lafayette.
13. The Lovely of the Land : It would be unfair to forget or neglect
them.
Among the volunteer toasts was the following by General Lafayette :
" The whole population of the State in Schuylkill and the affectionate al-
legiance of a newly adopted fellow-citizen."
Letters of regret from absent members and distinguished Americans are
carefully preserved among the ancient minutes before mentioned. They
are slightly yellowed with time, but otherwise in good condition. One
from Richard Rush, who had just returned from his eight years' diplomatic
mission to England to accept from President Adams the Secretaryship of
the Treasury, we present in fac-simile to our readers. It was Richard
Rush who, in 1836, was appointed by President Jackson as commissioner
to obtain the Smithsonian legacy, then in the English Court of Chancery;
and in 1838 returned with the entire amount, $515,169.
Lafayette visited ex-President Monroe at his residence in Virginia be-
fore returning to France, accompanied by President Adams, and together
they visited Leesburg, in Virginia. He sailed from Washington in the
early part of September.
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND THE FREE SOILERS
The Federal Convention, for some reason not apparent in the debates,
had distinctly refused to give to the proposed government the power " to
institute temporary governments in the territories ; " and, if public opinion
can be collected from the utterances in the conventions called to ratify or
reject the Constitution, the authority of the federal government over the
territories was understood to be the same as over a condemned musket,
and no more. The common sense of the Union found no difficulty in
dealing with the subject, nine states having been admitted between 1792
and 182c — five free, four slave. So long as slavery was regarded as it had
been regarded at the adoption of the Constitution, not a federal subject,
but of exclusive state cognizance, with which other states had no more to
do than with the internal policy of France, the character of a new state
was unimportant. But when the opposition to the admission of Missouri
disclosed a deep-seated and wide-spread resolve to make slavery a subject
of federal politics, the slave states saw that they must seek allies for
defense from the source whence others sought allies for attack. The con-
troversy which threatened the peace of the Union was terminated by a
compromise. North of 360 30' slave states could not be formed; south of
it they might be. The line was a line of honor, without warrant from the
Constitution ; indeed, in contravention of its prohibition of compacts between
states, and of its method by amendment of procuring future additions to
or restrictions of the federal powers. The bargain was kept until 1850,
the line having been, as of course, run through Texas. When California
applied for admission, in 1850, the line was refused by the free states.
That refusal, to the southern mind certainly, to the Democratic party
apparently, abrogated the Missouri Compromise. A new compromise was
made. California was admitted without the line, and the people of any
organized territory might, in the future, determine for itself whether it
would form a free or slave state ; and, slave or free, the state should be
admitted into the Union. The power of a territorial legislature extended
to all rightful subjects of legislation consistent with the Constitution. Both
parties, the Whig and the Democratic, concurred heartily in the com-
promise, and nine-tenths of the citizens of the Union recalled and acknowl-
edged the principle of life of American liberty and of the Union, that no
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND THE FREE SOILERS 479
citizen has a right to think for another, except upon agreed subjects of
thought.
The condition of things at that time was this — Indian settlements
secured by treaties commenced on the northern border of Texas and con-
tinued westward to the Nebraska River. To make new treaties and remove
the Indians, that land might be opened to migration and settlement, a
two-thirds vote in the Senate was necessary. The southern states were
willing that the land should be opened to settlement if the late compro-
mise was intended to, and did, supersede the former. Such was their under-
standing of it, but if such was not the understanding of their sister states,
it was better that the land should be closed to settlement than that a new
cause of discord should arise. In i852-'53a large body of emigrants, from
15,000 to 20,000, resolved to force a settlement of the Indian territory. The
federal government prepared to resist the attempt with its troops. The
possibility, with the probability, of an armed conflict made agreement easy,
and, all obstacles removed, the Kansas-Nebraska bill, with the Missouri
Compromise directly repealed, organized those territories. The object of
Mr. Douglas for ten years was attained. So far the southern men did not
owe him anything, nor he them. The Missouri Compromise, if existent,
was valueless without territory to act on, and there could be no territory
within its sphere without the consent of the southern senators, who
offered that consent for equality. A lack of fair dealing upon that com-
promise, on the part of either the free or the slave states, must be judged
by history. Impartial judgment is not yet possible. The southern claim
of legal rights must be stated to explain the alienation between Mr. Doug-
las and his former friends. That claim asserted territory to be equally the
territory of Massachusetts and South Carolina, as of every other state ; that
in it a man could go from any state, taking with him what was property in
any state, and the Constitution protected it as well in the territory as in
the state; that a territorial legislature could not divest a title to prop-
erty which was recognized by the Constitution; that when the Union, by
admission into it, recognized a certain area as a state, and its inhabit-
ants as a people, sovereignty accrued ; that the intentions expressed in the
Constitution submitted became institutions, and that the only power in
the United States over slavery, except the amendment power, was that
of a state. To this claim Mr. Douglas refused assent, but recognized an ar-
biter in the judiciary. After the Dred Scott decision, still maintaining the
same view, his southern friends said : " You do not keep faith, and your
doctrine of non-intervention means really non-intervention of the Consti-
tution between us and attack." They rejected the leadership before justly
480 STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND, THE TREE SOILERS
due, and accorded to his enormous energy and ability. The mutual exaspera-
tion was intensified by his course upon the Kansas muddle. All the troubles
in the territory grew (if he be credited) out of an armed emigration, engi-
neered by the emigration aid societies. There would have been none if emi-
gration had been left to its natural course. A counter armed immigration
followed. Either from superior numbers or fortunate circumstances it
almost in whole elected the first territorial legislature, against which no
complaints of fraud or violence could be made, as, in every case where such
had been proved, the governor had ordered new elections, of which com-
plaint was not made. That legislature was convened to meet at a town
the governor (Reeder) and others had laid out, through the connivance of
the commanding officer, upon the military reservation at Fort Riley. For
their agency in the land speculation, the soldier was subsequently cash-
iered and the governor removed. The legislature met there, but finding
cholera and no houses, passed an act changing the seat of government to
Shawnee Mission, where there were houses and no cholera. The governor
vetoed it ; the legislature passed it over his veto and adjourned to Shawnee
Mission. There it enacted a code, and as the governor refused his signa-
ture, passed it again as over a veto. The Free Soil men set up a govern-
ment of their own. Two governments, each completely organized, with an
exclusive constituency, claimed right, and each sent a delegate to Congress
to represent the territory. Congress recognized the territorial legislature
by admitting its delegate, and Mr. Douglas styled the other governmental
organization a nullity, and the action which framed it insurrectionary.
In the winter of 1856— '57 the territorial legislature passed an act for the
election of delegates to a constitutional convention. A registry of legal
voters was directed in each county, the governor, upon the registry, to appor-
tion the delegates in proportion to the number of legal voters shown. From
fifteen counties no registry came. Governor Walker issued an appeal to
the public to vote in those counties where a registry had been made, and
promised that all should vote upon the acceptance or rejection of the Con-
stitution— a promise which, as Mr. Douglas had already suggested to him,
neither he nor any other person had authority to make ; the members
of a convention, for anything it does or refrains from doing, being only
responsible to their constituents. The Free Soilers refusing to vote, the
convention was pro-slavery and the constitution also, but the convention
submitted to suffrage "the constitution, with or without slavery." Again
the Free Soilers refused to vote, and the constitution in its entirety was
ratified by ten to one. The President recommended the admission of Kan-
sas with it. As a citizen and the Executive of the Union, he saw the
STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS AND THE FREE SOILERS 48 1
advantage of extinguishing a firebrand ; as a party man he was anxious
to terminate schism. The admission would relieve the pride: of all from
tension. The Free Soilers, then largely the majority in Kansas, could
mold its institutions; it would become a free state by natural effects.
One section of the Union would gain its object, and the other would not
feel the insult of injustice. Mr. Douglas opposed the admission, on the
ground that the constitution was not the act and deed of the people of
Kansas, though one of the simplest elementary rules of politics is, that he
who can vote and will not, accepts as his own the vote of the man who
will. Knowing the Republican party to be anxious to keep the Kansas
sore open, that the body politic might be irritable, and the Democratic
party to have it healed, he did what he could to keep the sore running,
and served the party he professed to antagonize, more than any of its lead-
ers. Did Mr. Douglas feel remorse or an injustice when, in the dark win-
ter of i86o-'6i, he heard, in the Senate, " For this you are responsible."
Still, such was the yearning for harmony in the party, that Mr. Douglas
would have been nominated at Charleston had not he and his friends
insisted upon the acceptance of his revision of the constitution ; his past
not merely to be endured, but indorsed. The party leaders who have
assumed dictatorship have wrecked their own hopes and shattered their
party. Mr. Clay gave the great and triumphant Whig party a death-
wound. Mr. Van Buren threw away old friends and an unanimous nom-
ination by his Texas letter. He split off a fragment of his party sufficiently
large to elect General Taylor. Mr. Douglas wrought upon it wider
havoc.
SM> Mu
AARON BURR: A STUDY
II
Under the present system, the considerations which induce a nomi-
nation for Vice-President are usually without view to a subsequent candi-
dacy for the superior office. Originally it was otherwise. Under the
electoral system then in force, the Vice-President had ipso facto a claim to
promotion. Burr was no exception ; he looked forward, and with confi-
dence, to the Presidency. He was admired and esteemed by the mass of
his party. Its ascendency was due to him, and the fact was recognized on
every hand. His course through the " tie " contest was hailed as disinter-
ested, and applauded. Wherever he went he was dined with honor, and
toasted as a patriot.
But his apparent prospects were deceptive. Politics, Republican and
Federal, North and South, were soon conspiring to his overthrow. Jeffer-
son was secretly jealous of his sudden and unexpected rival. Moreover,
the plans of the Virginia statesmen were jeopardized. Both Madison and
Monroe were in expectant line of promotion. At home, the elements of
opposition were even more bodeful and potent, because immediate and
direct. The Livingstons and the Clintons were as strong and as interested
as any of their southern brethren in their hostility to Burr. They viewed
him as an upstart and an interloper. His rapid advancement was humili-
ating to their hereditary power, and, burying their differences, they now
joined hands to do away with him and his " flying squadrons."
The work forthwith began. State and national patronage combined in
the enterprise. One Livingston was made mayor of New York city; an-
other, ambassador to France; another, supreme court judge. As for the
Clintons, one was governor ; another, United States senator ; and numerous
others absorbed the greater share of the minor state offices. Burr and his
adherents were ignored. He and his friends even lost their seats as direct-
or.^ of the Manhattan Bank.
Cheetham soon appeared on the scene, and was put in charge of the
American Citizen, the organ of De Witt Clinton, where he was neither slow
nor uncertain in doing the will of his principal. Pursuant to Clinton's
instructions, he directed his talents against Burr. The columns of his
paper were laden at every issue with vituperation and slander. Wherever
Cheetham unearthed a questionable act, he exaggerated and distorted.
AARON BURR: A STUDY 483
Wherever he saw a ground for suspicion, he raised a fabric of amplified
vilification. Wherever there was neither act nor suspicion, he wantonly
lied. Abuse and detraction, libel and lampoon, followed each other in
perennial succession. The partisan frenzy of the modern press has shown
few equals to Cheetham's scurrilous ingenuity. Such, indeed, was the
practice of the times. The improvement of the modern journal does not
consist merely in daily editions and telegraphic news. " Nothing," wrote
Jefferson, " can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself
becomes suspicious by being put in that polluted vehicle. The real extent
of this state of misinformation is known only to those who are in situations
to confront facts within their knowledge with the lies of the day."
Three years of unremitted opposition and obloquy produced their effect.
Burr's power and popularity were crippled. His re-election was rendered
impossible; the " regular" Republican party had cast him off. Only a
single course remained, and that course he took. In February, 1804, he
was formally announced as an independent: candidate for governor.
At that time the Federalists were in a hopeless minority, yet none the
less eager to regain their departed power. " We must change our tactics,"
wrote Hamilton to Bayard. " We have relied too much upon the mere
excellence of our measures. . . . We must be more politic, my dear sir.
Nothing wrong must be done, of course; but we must meet art with art,
and defeat trick with trick." The dominant Republican faction nominated
Chief-Justice Lewis. Hamilton first proposed to run a Federal candidate;
but finally, considering Burr's defeat more precarious in that event, he
counseled his party to vote for Lewis. He issued his " Reasons " for that
course. " Colonel Burr has steadily pursued the track of Democratic poli-
tics. Though detested by some of the leading Clintonians, he is certainly
not personally disagreeable to the great body of them, and it will be no
difficult task for a man of his talents, intrigue, and address, possessing the
chair of government, to rally the great body of them under his standard.
. . . The effect of this elevation will be to reunite, under a more adroit,
able, and daring chief, the now scattered fragments of the Democratic
party, and re-enforce it by a strong detachment from the Federalists. . . .
A further effect of this elevation, by the aid of the Federalists, will be to
present to the confidence of New England a man already the man of the
Democratic leaders of that country, and toward whom the mass of the
people have no weak predilection, as their countryman, as the grandson of
President Edwards, and the son of President Burr. ... If he be truly,
as the Federalists have believed, a man of irregular and insatiable ambi-
tion, if his plan has been to rise to power on the ladder of Jacobinic prin-
4»4
A A RON BURR: A STUDY
ciples, it is natural to conclude that he will endeavor to fix himself in
power by the same instrument ; that he will not lean on a fallen and falling
party, generally speaking, not of a character to favor usurpation and the
ascendency of a daring and despotic chief."
It is altogether probable that these " Reasons," for the most part, ex-
pressed Hamilton's actual opinions. Yet he here again reveals the chimera
that seems to have haunted him from the time of Burr's first appearance
in politics — that the latter's ambition was ultimately to obtain despotic
power. His correspondence is full of such suggestions, often alluding to a
current absurdity that, during the pendency of the " tie," Burr had plotted
to "cutoff" the leading Federalists and seize the reins of government.
Such notions were characteristic features of the politics of that period.
Jefferson's correspondence is similarly littered with far-fetched conjectures
and refurbished rumors of one sort and another, that now appear ridicu-
lous. On the other hand, Hamilton's statement of the results likely to
follow Burr's elevation, as well as being inconsistent with the notion of
despotism, is no slight evidence of the regard in which Burr was held
among the people, and no slight tribute to his ability. Had Hamilton
deemed him a political charlatan, his " Reasons" would have contained
disparagement instead of compliment. It is a familiar maxim in law that
admissions against interest are the most reliable evidence ; and to ascer-
tain the truth from the record in what Parton aptly terms the " great case
of Hamilton versus Burr," these public expressions weigh vastly more than
vague and unsupported charges prompted by partisan motives, and pre-
ferred in secret correspondence.
As might have been expected, Burr was defeated. Hamilton's efforts
alone prevented the mass of the Federalists from flocking to his sup-
port. Nevertheless, with the odds and combination arrayed against him,
he carried New York city, and received a total vote of twenty-eight thou-
sand, only seven thousand less than his opponent. Cheetham said that
Burr was elated. He had cause to be ; the strength he had displayed
in the teeth of such opposition boded danger to the Republican party.
His possibilities seemed never greater. But the fatal crisis was now at
hand.
Soon after this election, a letter appeared in print referring to "a still
more despicable opinion which General Hamilton has expressed of Mr.
Burr." Until this time it is said that Burr had received scarcely an inti-
mation of the manner in which Hamilton had constantly characterized
him. More than that, he and Burr to all outward appearances were per-
sonally on good terms. Their families had been friendly in their inter-
AARON BURR: A STUDY 4X5
course. Burr immediately opened the correspondence that resulted in a
challenge to fight. " Between gentlemen," wrote Hamilton in answer, " des-
picable and more despicable are not worth the pains of distinction. . . .
But I stand ready to avow or disavow any definite opinion I may be
charged with having expressed respecting any gentleman." Burr was, of
course, unable to specify any of the " secret depredations," as he called
them, "on his fame and character." Hamilton maintained his first posi-
tion. " He was ready to enter into a free and frank explanation on any
and every subject of a specific nature ; but not to answer a general and
abstract inquiry, embracing a period too long for accurate recollection, and
exposing him to unpleasant criticism from or unpleasant discussions with
any and every person who may have understood him in an unfavorable
sense." Ten days of fruitless efforts to avoid the inevitable followed be-
fore the challenge was formally made. It was accepted without hesita-
tion, and on the nth of July, 1804, Hamilton fell with a mortal wound.
On the following day he died.
The public excitement was intense. Hamilton was interred with im-
posing demonstrations. Upon his memory was heaped unbounded eulogy ;
upon Burr unbounded denunciation. The Father of Federalism was raised
to a pinnacle of fame that has grown more resplendent with time ; Burr
was plunged to the deepest depth of infamy. In print and in pulpit he
was branded as a murderer. Scarcely a voice was raised in his defense.
Those upon whom he had counted in the past for his strength turned from
him in abhorrence. The public could see no justification, no palliation.
It forgot that Hamilton had consented to fight, and recognized the " code
of honor ; " that once before he had been a second ; and that his son
had been shot as a principal. It forgot that duels had been but common
events; and that almost every public man had fought in one or more.
Every miserable invention used against Burr was now revived, and coupled
with new-hatched horrors that the clamorous public was eager to believe.
Every whispering of malice was broadened into a trumpet tone of accu-
sation. He was hailed as a Mephistopheles, and every dexterous act and
unexplained fact was ascribed to satanic craft. It was charged — and to
this day the charge is repeated — that simple vengeance prompted the
challenge ; that he searched the newspapers for a technical excuse, and
then prepared himself by pistol practice.
No one will now attempt to apologize for a custom that no circum-
stance more than this has caused to be abolished ; but in arriving at the
truth of this affair, it is needful to recognize the facts.
Burr was the centre of chivalry and gallantry. Around him gathered
486 AARON BURR: A STUDY
the high-spirited youth of his city. His manners and address were fas-
cinating; his nature was determined and resolute; his courage constitu-
tional. And now that his honor was questioned, he was called upon to
defend it by the very strongest considerations that could move him. Even
Cheetham asked : " Is the Vice-President sunk so low as to submit to be
insulted by General Hamilton ?" Hamilton knew what to expect from his
provocation, and when it came to light he was compelled to abide the con-
sequence, by the same reasons that prompted the challenge. Had he de-
clined the challenge, he would have been called a coward and a liar. The
truth is, to all who will not blind themselves to it, that, while Hamilton
was a victim of a vicious and prevalent practice, Burr was equally a victim
of an unbridled and profligate partisanship. And candor must admit that,
as with Julius Caesar, William the Silent, Charles XII., as with Lincoln and
Garfield, Hamilton's fame is the greater for the sympathetic attention
aroused by his untimely end.
Burr was wholly unprepared for the result. Never before had a duel
produced such feeling, although it is only just to say that the righteous
sentiment thus evoked against the barbarous practice was chiefly due to the
persistent and insincere clamors of Burr's political enemies, many of whom
had fought or seconded duels themselves. They embraced the oppor-
tunity utterly to destroy him. Duels, always conducted with the utmost
secrecy, had never admitted of criminal prosecution, nor had public senti-
ment demanded it. Hence Burr's surprise was turned to consternation
when persecution and prosecution both combined against him. By means
of the evidence of two clergymen who had administered the rites of relig-
ion to Hamilton before his death, Burr was indicted for murder.
Meanwhile, he had gone to the South to avoid the storm. In the
southern states he was not o?nly safe, but a hero. There, then as after-
wards, courage to fight was a virtue, and to fall was simply a misfortune.
Thus Burr's popularity in the South increased instead of suffered. On his
journey to Washington, where he went upon the opening of Congress to
perform his final duties as president of the Senate, he was enthusiasti-
cally entertained by the Republicans of Petersburg. But by the time he
reached the Capitol, he was also indicted in New Jersey, where the duel
had taken place ; and he somewhat sarcastically wrote to his daughter of
the singular contention between the two states as to which of them should
have the honor of hanging the Vice-President. Danger on that score,
however, was soon averted. Many leading politicians, doubtless fearing
that prosecution for dueling would be a precedent dangerous to their own
safety or reputations, quietly took the matter in hand. As the result,,
AARON BURR: A STUDY 4.X7
Burr was privately assured that he need stand in no fear of being molested
by the law.
When Congress opened he presided over the Senate as usual. Wash-
ington society received him with all its past consideration. Jefferson
dined him," and even dispensed some patronage to his friends. The final
act of his public life redounded to his credit. As Vice-President, he pre-
sided at the impeachment trial of Judge Chase, where his dignity and
impartiality won him great respect.
Nevertheless, his day was over. From the North he was virtually ban-
ished, and did not return to it except by stealth. He was there a ruined
man — disgraced, and a bankrupt. His effects were sold under the ham-
mer, but for not enough to satisfy his debts. His public life was ended.
He was to be no longer a factor in history, save transiently to emerge once
more, and then only to deepen the shadows about his name.
Perhaps we may form a more accurate estimate of his political career,
contrary to the usual method, apart from the subsequent events of his life.
The ablest writers are wont to dispatch him in a paragraph beginning
with " trickery " and ending with "treason." His political rise is termed
phenomenal, and is ascribed to craft and cunning. His fall, it is declared,
was inevitable, and the just and natural result of his methods and his
character. It is asserted that he was shallow, but designing and skillful ;
and that he was equally without principle or principles. Instead of giving
his acts a natural explanation, they are shrouded with artificial mystery.
What he did through simple ability is imputed to the devil. The good
and ill in his life are condemned alike, since the good was only a lure
and disguise. His career is looked at backward, the beginning from the
end. It is assumed that a man who committed murder and treason in his
age could have had no scruples from his youth.
It is needless to speculate what the after course of his life would have
been had he been elected President over Jefferson. But, had he fallen in-
stead of Hamilton, or, at the close of his term as Vice-President, had he
resumed, as at one time he intended, the practice of law in some southern
or western city, no event of his life would have drawn to him more than
a passing historical notice, nor would anything have been discovered in
his career to justify the verdict of villainy pronounced upon it. Instead
of his sudden rise in politics being considered a phenomenon of craft or
fortune, we may rather marvel that he did not take part before. Of a cer-
tain order his abilities were incontestably great. At the bar, in this day,
his powers would be transcendent. The conditions of legal practice in
which he and Hamilton shared the leadership were more suited to Hamil-
488 AARON BURR: A STUDY
ton's powers than to his. The more important questions that arose were
new. The legal principles governing them were more or less undeter-
mined, and precedents were few. Hence, the greatest force lay in orig-
inal reasoning from natural principles; and in that province Hamilton had
no superior; in breadth of intellect and power of logic, as shown in ef-
forts like that in which he established the law of libel, Burr was far be-
neath him. Yet it is doubtful if in mere scholarship he was equal to
Burr, to whom the tendency came by inheritance. And at the present
time, when success at the bar, aside from simple advocacy, is so nearly
proportionate to legal scholarship and tactical skill, Burr would probably
have the advantage. For lawyers know that such a man as Burr, secret,
rapid, resolute, and a master of precedents, in the great mass of legal
warfare is by far the most dangerous to encounter. To say that he was
shallow, therefore, is unfair and untrue. And with his abilities, reputation,
and uncommon personal qualities, it was inevitable that he should sooner
or later be drawn into politics; and, upon taking part, that he should as-
sume a commanding position.
It is said that one searches in vain for any utterances that prove him
to have been possessed of logically matured political principles ; but none
of his political speeches have been preserved, and it is known to have
been his habit to exclude all reference to politics from his ordinary corre-
spondence. From this it is deduced that he was destitute of both na-
tional and party patriotism. But his talents and temper of mind were not
suited to win him lasting distinction in public life. Lawyers of his stripe
are never statesmen. He was not constituted to become an interpreter of
political problems, or a founder of political creeds; but, until his contest
for the governorship, adequately explained, if not justified, by the fac-
tional strife forced upon him, his adherence to the Republican party had
not only been faithful, but efficient. It was charged, it is true, that he
had attempted to combine with the Federalists to secure the Presidency,
but the charge of a somewhat similar coalition between Adams and Clay
in after years has not been more effectually exploded. Laudable or
otherwise, the fact is that Burr possessed a genius for political manage-
ment, and sought preferment by the invention of those political methods
that were revised and improved by his immediate successors, Van Buren
and the Regency, and now employed by all parties under the name of
"the machine." He imported into politics the means he had employed
in law. He recognized that men are ruled by interest, and that the mass
of them are, in politics, like pawns on a chess-board. His knowledge of
them was profound, and his influence with them prodigious. Until his
AARON BURR: A STUDY 489
time, circumstances rather than management had made Federalism su-
preme. And, therefore, when, as if by magic, the growing Republican
forces were united and made successful, it was only natural that the one
to whom this result was mainly due, and who rode into prominence on the
wave he had started, should be hailed as a political wizard.
Organization in politics is now regarded as essential as organization in
war. It is not " the machine," but its perverted product, that is the sub-
ject of condemnation. Even the reformer who reforms no longer works
by hand. But the idea of political system has certain implications not so
well recognized. Politics, when founded upon system, soon become an
art in which details and complications are as potent as the minutiae of
drill in war. Burr possessed that art. He knew the effect of things
trifling in themselves, and was dexterous in his use of them. He was quick
to perceive the error of his enemy, and equally quick and skillful in turn-
ing it to advantage. His chief successes were due to Hamilton's mistakes.
He possessed a faculty of combining and opposing private interests that
was even more effective at first than afterwards, because his methods were
new. Hamilton argued, wrote, and dictated; Burr calculated, consulted,
and arranged. Thus, once, in his customary cipher he requested " 18
to ask 45 whether, for any reasons, 21 could be induced to vote for 6;
and, if he could, whether 14 would withdraw his opposition to 29, and 1 1
exert his influence in favor 22." His means being secret, his results
seemed mysterious, and were soon imputed by his enemies to artifice and
trickery, an explanation afterwards embraced to make his whole career a
consistent enormity.
There is less evidence of Burr's use of unfair means in politics than can be
brought to bear against several of his most formidable rivals, who would
fare extremely ill if they were to be judged by what they said of each
other. The particular and definite charges are few, and the most of them
clearly inventions or exaggerations. If the statements made by Hamilton
in his correspondence had tangible foundation, he must have known it.
Their acquaintance began before their political rivalry, and their practice
and social relations brought them constantly together. Hamilton knew
too well the force of facts not to have used them had he been in posses-
sion of them ; yet his darkest imputations are general, and usually pre-
mised by such phrases as " It is said."
It was, of course, Hamilton's privilege to oppose Burr's political plans
by all honorable means, but it was likewise Burr's privilege to entertain
honorable ambition ; and unless Hamilton's charges were justified by am-
pler knowledge than the evidence now discloses, his course of secret
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6.-33
400 AARON BURR: A STUDY
opposition was far more discreditable than the worst of Burr's political
acts. And, more than that, it may justly be doubted whether Burr's ex-
quisite breeding would have permitted him to resort to underhanded mis-
representations of a personal nature, whatever else he may have been led
to employ.
Hamilton, however, had one ground of opposition that was decisive,
and doubtless to some extent sincere. His abhorrence of the principles of
the French Revolution, and the avowed sympathy with them of the Re-
publican leaders, begot the fear that their desire for power might result in
a forcible attempt to secure it, in order to propagate what he considered
demagogical doctrines. The fear of a revolutionary movement was par-
ticularly directed against Burr, whom he deemed capable of not only
subverting the existing order of things, but of subverting it for his own
personal aggrandizement. This was Hamilton's leading theme, and all his
other accusations radiated from it. And, absurd as such a notion was, from
the sheer impossibility of the thing, Burr's subsequent exploits in the West
coincided so strikingly with it that it received a weight and currency that
still endure.
At the close of his vice-presidency, Burr resolved to visit the West.
Whatever his purpose may have been at the outset, he took boat at Pitts-
burg and floated down the Ohio, stopping at various places along the
route, including Blennerhassett's Island, which the sequel was destined to
make famous. Leaving his boat at Louisville, he went to Nashville, where
he was the guest of Andrew Jackson, already a power in Tennessee. He
then returned to his boat, and continued his voyage to the mouth of
the Ohio, and thence by the Mississippi to New Orleans. Wherever he
touched he was welcomed with public demonstrations. The whole jour-
ney was like a triumphal progress. Not even Washington could have met
with a more cordial and imposing reception in that region of the country.
He remained for about three weeks in New Orleans, at that time a city
of some nine thousand inhabitants, composed mainly of French and
Spanish adventurers recruited by a congenial contingent from the states.
The governor of the province was General Wilkinson, whose appointment
to that position had been largely due to Burr's influence, and he was there-
fore solicitous to do his benefactor ample honor. In fact, he met Burr at
Nassau, near the mouth of the Cumberland, and escorted him to New Or-
leans. Wilkinson, it would seem, had long indulged the dream of leading
an army to the capital of the Montezumas, and had minutely informed
himself concerning the routes and roads thither. This knowledge he soon
imparted to Burr, whose quick intelligence at once perceived the possibil-
AARON BURR: A STUDY 491
ities of a Mexican expedition. Probably the outline of the scheme after-
wards developed was then conceived ; but it is also probable that nothing
more was done at that time than to define a plan, and to secure informa-
tion as to the means by which to carry it out.
Burr then traveled slowly northward, visiting different points, and ar-
rived at Washington in November. From the listless uncertainty of his
movements, it may be doubted if, even at this time, he had matured any
definite plan of operation. He renewed his intercourse with the Presi-
dent, and it is quite certain that efforts were made in his behalf, and at his
instance, to procure for him an official appointment. But nothing came of
them, and he soon began to correspond with various persons in relation to
his Mexican project. His letters to Wilkinson indicate that the latter was
in full possession of his scheme, and fully confederated with him in the
enterprise as then defined. With his other correspondents he was not so
explicit. Thus, he wrote to Blennerhassett that he had " projected and
still meditated a speculation. The business, however, depended on a con-
tingency not within his control, and would not be commenced before
December, if ever ; and was not to be satisfactorily explained by letter."
This " contingency " was a possible war with Spain, which was now as-
suming an attitude of threatening hostility to the United States, having
rejected all overtures to adjust the disputed boundaries of Louisiana, and
refused to grant certain indemnities. Under the cover, therefore, of a
declaration of war against Spain, Burr proposed to invade Mexico. This
accomplished, it is presumed, and his correspondence with his closer
friends warrants the presumption, that he intended to turn his conquests
to the advantage of himself and his followers. But his avowed purpose
was to emulate the example of Miranda, who, that same year, had sailed
from the United States with an expedition to deliver South America
from the yoke of Spanish authority. Mexico was likewise enthralled
by a despotism so brutally absolute as to extinguish intelligence to make
tyranny sufferable, and to stunt industry to make revolt impossible. Thus
Burr's proposal to wrest freedom to Mexico from the iron hand of Spain
found favor with both the philanthropic and the adventurous. Before
the end of July, 1806, perhaps five hundred persons, many of the highest
character and standing in the country, were committed to the enterprise.
During the forepart of that year Burr lived obscurely in Philadelphia,
maturing his preparations. He sought the society of those who were dis-
satisfied with the government, and cautiously dallied with the prejudices
their grievances had created. Many of the disaffected entered into his
scheme. The Catholic clergy of New Orleans were also in the secret.
492 AARON BURR: A STUDY
He conferred with the English minister for the purpose of securing the
aid o\ the English Government, and even sent an agent to England to
further that design. He then purchased 400,000 acres of land on the
Wachita, the first payment being contributed by his friends in the East.
This land was to be used as a basis for bounties to the rank-and-file re-
cruits, and may possibly have been intended as a refuge in the emergency
of disaster. All the preliminaries arranged, he returned to the West to
organize his force.
The final preparations were vigorously pushed. The quiet of Blenner-
hassett's Island was broken by the bustle of a military camp. Army
stores, flour, pork, and meal, were purchased in quantities, and boats were
built to transport men to New Orleans. Burr was zealous and ubiquitous.
He bent all his faculties to the work. He went hither and thither,
through Kentucky and Tennessee, in quest of men and means. He was
received, as before, with every distinction, and met everywhere with suc-
cess. Even Andrew Jackson was numbered among his enthusiastic ad-
herents. Yet his ultimate design was studiously concealed, as were the
details of its execution. It was sufficient for all that the expedition was
directed against Mexico, and presumably had the concurrence of the
government.
For a time all went well ; there was neither opposition nor suspicion.
But finally came the alarm. A Federalist newspaper charged Burr with
conspiring treason, and the Federalist district-attorney began criminal
prosecution. Burr haughtily repelled the charge, and voluntarily appeared
in court with Henry Clay as counsel. After a spirited legal skirmish, the
grand jury threw out the indictment. Nine-tenths of the people loudly
applauded the outcome. The prosecution was covered with odium, and
the editor who first preferred the charge was mobbed at a ball given in
honor of Burr's acquittal.
Early in November the flotilla started down the river. Every obstacle,
as Burr supposed, had been removed ; but what was most unexpected now
occurred. Months before, messengers had been sent to Wilkinson with
full and final instructions. " The gods invite to fortune," he was assured ;
" it remains to be seen whether we deserve the boon." Whether he was
frightened at the actual prospect of what before he had only dreamed, or
saw a greater advantage in revealing the scheme to the government, is
difficult to say. But he at once dispatched messengers to Washington
with detailed information, and as soon as Burr was under way with his
force, threw off the cover, proclaimed martial law, and called for volunteers
to defend New Orleans. The President took up the alarm, and issued
AARON BURR: A STUDY 493
a proclamation. Great excitement prevailed; military companies were
raised in man)- places.
The fleet was intercepted at Natchez. Burr was arrested, though the
grand jury refused to indict him. But, perceiving the impossibility of suc-
cess, he left all behind him and disappeared. After a flight of several days
he was again arrested. He was then conveyed to Richmond by a horse-
back journey of a thousand miles, one-half of which lay through the wilder-
ness. Reaching Richmond, he was arraigned before Chief-Justice Mar-
shall, where were taken the preliminary steps of the most noted and
remarkable trial in our history.
The querulous Jefferson assumed direction of the proceedings as a
matter of state. His instructions to the district-attorney were frequent
and minute. By his orders the attorney-general joined the prosecution,
associated with lawyers who had no superiors in the land, unless among
those retained for the defense. He lost sight of his dignity, and almost of
his decency. He denounced the Federalists as co-conspirators for siding
with Burr as against the administration, and even presumed to criticise
the rulings of the chief-justice on questions of law. He was engrossed
with the business. The longer he dwelt upon it, the larger it was magni-
fied. " Burr's enterprise," he wrote, " is the most extraordinary since the
days of Don Quixote. It is so extravagant that those who know his un-
derstanding would not believe it if the proofs admitted doubt. He has
meant to place himself on the throne of the Montezumas, and extend his
empire to the Alleghariies, seizing New Orleans as the instrument of com-
pulsion of our western states."
After an animated session of nearly two months, the grand jury in-
dicted Burr, Blennerhassett, and five others for treason and misdemeanor.
This done, the trial of Burr for treason commenced. Two weeks were
consumed in obtaining a jury, and three days in hearing evidence.
Then came the final debate — nine days of legal and oratorical display.
The result was that, under the ruling of the court, no " overt act " had
been shown, and the jury rendered the Scotch verdict of " not proven,"
equivalent to an acquittal. He was then tried on the minor charge,
and again acquitted. This ended the prosecution, and he was discharged.
Public opinion, however, surmounting technicality, pronounced him
morally guilty. And the popular view of the transaction has been gener-
ally accepted. Yet just how far it is correct is hard to determine. It
may well be that Burr's primal purpose was the conquest of Mexico ; and
if so, there is little doubt that, had he reached its borders with any re-
spectable force, he would have conquered like Cortez, atr1 ~v.c like
494 A A RON BURR : A STUDY
Charles III. But that he proposed to revolutionize Louisiana, and ulti-
mately dismember the Union, seems improbable. Such a plan would have
been futile and chimerical ; and his practical insight doubtless recognized
the fact, whatever inducements he may have offered to tempt those who
were dissatisfied or at odds with the government. When his force was in-
tercepted, it numbered less than three hundred men, and while it would
presumably have received some additional strength, it would have been
absurdly insufficient to hold New Orleans against the United States at
the same time he invaded Mexico. When asked on his death-bed if his
design had been against the Union, he replied : " No ; I would as soon have
thought of taking possession of the moon, and informing my friends that I
intended to divide it among them."
However just may be the condemnation of this transaction, those in-
clined to be lenient ma)* find some considerations to temper its severity.
Such would remember that Burr's hope of further preferment was wholly
extinguished, and under circumstances as unfortunate as blamable ; that,
while he might have settled in the South or West and begun anew, it
would have seemed a humiliation, since the attention there shown him
was more the result of sympathy than of political support. His prestige
was gone beyond recall. His ambition was still strong ; his genius, mili-
tary. Therefore, ostracized by his former friends, and banished from the
scene of his successes, it was not strange that he should seek the oppor-
tunity for power and glory that lay in the conquest of Mexico. And, if
the stimulus of example were needed, that of Napoleon Bonaparte was
even then displaying itself before his eyes. But failure was fatal ; to the
mark of Cain it added the brand of Judas.
His singular vicissitudes were not yet at an end. Until June, 1808, he
lived in seclusion, and part of the time in concealment in the city of New
York. Then, under an assumed name, he sailed for Europe with the in-
tention of laying before Napoleon a plan professedly for the independence
of Mexico; but, by the time he reached England, Napoleon had placed
his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne, and was, therefore, the ruler by
proxy of Spain and her dominions. The hope of French aid thus defeated,
he remained in England, and proposed the subject in turn to Canning,
Castlereagh, and Mulgrave. Not only, however, was his proposition rejected,
but, in the following year, he was informed that his presence had become
" embarrassing to the government," and he was directed to leave the king-
dom.
He took the passage offered him by the authorities, and went to Swc-
den, where he remained until the newspapers began to discuss him. Then,
AARON BURR: A STUDY 495
traveling leisurely by way of Denmark and Germany, he went to Paris.
There, hearing that Napoleon had consented to the independence of the
Spanish provinces, his original hope revived. But, after spending five
months in fruitless efforts to gain audience with the emperor, he resolved
to return to America. Even to this a most unlooked-for obstacle arose.
Passports were refused him, and he was forbidden to leave the empire. He-
then passed ten months under police surveillance before he escaped the
country. He finally succeeded in boarding a vessel bound for the United
States ; but his ill-fortune still attended him. The ship was captured by
a British cruiser on the day it sailed, and he was taken to England, where,
after a vexatious delay, he resumed his passage by another ship.
The details of this tour were still more disagreeable than the main
events. Before he left England, at his first visit, his means became so
straitened that he was forced to change his name several times to evade
arrest for debt ; and, before he reached England again, he suffered from
abject poverty. He borrowed from the friends he made, and pawned what
he could of his effects. He counted his scanty means by pence and sous.
His detention in France aggravated his dilemma. At times he lived from
meal to meal, without knowing whence the next would come. He often
dined on rice or potatoes that he boiled himself, and often kept his bed
in cold weather to save the expense of a fire.
His journal, kept while abroad, is one of the curiosities of literature.
He wrote with minute fidelity, and with such entire frankness as to present
a strange contrast to the profound reserve he maintained concerning other
periods of his life. His daily narrative is comprised alone of the barest
statement of what he did, what he ate and drank, how much he spent,
whom he met. The style in which it is written is as sententious as that of
a sailor's log-book, and inferior to that of his letters. The usual qualities
of an entertaining diary are wanting. For, of the various men of note with
whom he came in contact, he relates no incidents, expresses no opinions ;
upon the various events he mentions, he offers no observations, indulges
no reflections. And, except for the glimpse of his personality which it
alone affords, the journal would possess but little interest, unless from the
curious tale of a necessitous experience.
No less a critic than Edward Everett saw in it characteristic evidence
of the constitutional secretiveness and love of mystery by which Burr is
commonly believed to have been dominated ; but the fact that he could
strip as he did the veil from his gailing and miserable poverty, as well as
recount the wanton insults he received, as impassively as though he wrote
of another person, suggests the existence of some motive other than that
496 AARON BURR: A STUDY
o( secrecy. One explanation that might be quite sufficient in itself, is that
what he wrote was intended merely as the guide to an oral narrative to his
daughter, a woman of rare endowments, for whom he bore an affection so
tender and intelligent as to negative his imputed want of heart, and almost
induce the critic to relent the rigor of his judgment. But there was a
deeper reason. Burr did not possess what may be termed the literary tem-
perament. The wonder is that he wrote a journal at all. In that day of
voluminous correspondence, his letters were short and pointed. The brevity
that marked his public speeches was even more characteristic of his con-
versation. He not only was not fluent, but he was without the peculiar
quality of loving language for itself that transfigures commonplace, and
builds verbal beauties upon trifles. His temper was not effervescent. He
was not governed by moods or impulses. He was cowed by no calamity,
and dispirited by no misfortune. Under the most distressing provocations,
his amenity never suffered, no complaint ever escaped him, no word of dis-
couragement or discontent. Not of the reflective order, he did not dwell
upon circumstances or traits of character simply to amuse his curiosity ; he
was not a mere virtuoso of human nature. Those with whom he had rela-
tions possessed for him no other than a practical interest, and that only
while those relations continued ; such he estimated at a glance, instinctive-
ly and without reasoning. In a word, he was intensely, even profoundly,
objective. He was a pronounced type of a not uncommon class of minds
that rank next to genius — not fine enough to be transcendent nor broad
enough to be great, yet supreme in the mass of material affairs. They
possess sagacity and energy, under the dominion of material and practical
purpose. Their talents are those of tact and management, which often
develop a casuistry more conveniently logical than deeply ethical, though
not always and necessarily insincere.
Burr's remaining years yield little further interest. He returned to New
York and again took up the practice of his profession. He never regained
his former standing at the bar, nor was he again received in society. The
huge debts that the failure of his expedition had saddled upon him harassed
him to the end. Yet material difficulties and social affronts he met like a
Stoic, and lived to the age of full fourscore — long enough to see himself
pointed out as an ancient traitor by a new generation.
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
The world has long since accredited the fathers of the republic with a
marvelous insight and grasp of the fundamental principles of a free society,
and great wisdom in their application.
First among the nations they denounced African slavery ; and pro-
hibiting its introduction from abroad and its spread within, they believed
they had placed it " in the course of ultimate extinction." But the inven-
tion of the cotton-gin, making slave labor profitable, awakened the greed
of the masters, stifled the better sentiments, and pressed religion and phi-
losophy into the service of slavery, until the great catastrophe purified the
religious and economic atmosphere.
In like manner, the fathers taught that republican institutions were
adapted alone to a people with general equality of condition, and sought
to secure this in the prohibition of entails and primogeniture. But here
again the fa cilis descensus is becoming flagrant. In the presence of new
conditions, making enormous individual aggrandizement easy, there arises
a demand for a philosophy that will stifle conscience and satisfy the intel-
lect while teaching the rightfulness of this aggrandizement. The demand
brings the supply. First to enter the lists is the learned professor of
Yale, who with confident mien and defiant step presents himself as the
champion of the plutocrat.* The fact that of the vast fixed capital created
by labor in the last twenty-five years twenty-five men, it may be, own one
thousand millions ; the startling greed and gettings of the Standard Oil
Company, move him not.
Happily, religion is not yet invoked to consecrate these things ; and the
professor contents himself with sneering at " the old ecclesiastical preju-
dice in favor of the poor and against the rich."
" A rich man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven," " Sell all thou
hast and distribute unto the poor," " Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the
kingdom of God," are, indeed, quite ancient ; but is he not a bold man who
assails the Sermon on the Mount ? Yet what recourse is left ? There was
some plausibility in the attempt to make Christianity subservient to slavery,
but it seems quite impossible to make it the apologist of the plutocrat.
The professor is circumspect. But is it not possible that there may
be beneath this old ecclesiastical prejudice a wisdom not dreamt of in his
philosophy ?
* What the Social Classes Owe to Each Other. Prof. Sumner of Yale. (Harper Brothers.)
498 THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
It is curious to note that while the professor was coining his phrases
some French sava nts were also thinking on these great themes. M. de
Vogue thus expresses himself, in a late number of the Revue des deux
Mondes: " History forces us to recognize that the Christian religion un-
dergoes at long intervals external renovations, adapting it to the existing
needs of society. For eighteen hundred years the gospel has been ade-
quate to these exigencies, unceasingly arising. In digging deeper into
this marvelous book, man may find the food desired for his new hunger.
M. Reville has well said, ' the spirit of Christianity is the restless search
of the better.' To-day some souls believe that the crisis of modern con-
science must resolve itself through one of these revolutions. Much greater
still is the number of minds bent upon the search of the better social state.
It is in this direction that the gospel mine is the richest, the least worked ;
here is concealed, perhaps, the religious and social formula which so many
hearts seek."
At the Renaissance : " The liberal interpretation of the gospel prepared
the civil and political transformation gradually accomplished to-day in
the Christian world. Wherefore may we not hope that, at the next stage,
the social sense of the Book will be revealed to us, and that the new re-
ligious evolution will bring forth, yet with its slowness and accustomed
wisdom, a social mold appropriate to the needs of men, as superior to the
ancient as our civil life is superior to that of the Middle Ages."
Speaking in the same strain, in the same review, M. Laveleye says :
" Christianity is right. RicJiesse oblige. Those who dispose of the net prod-
uct of the country should not employ their superfluity in refining their
material enjoyments, or in arousing the unholy gratifications of vanity
and pride ; but in works of general utility, as have already done more than
one American citizen and more than one European sovereign. The gos-
pel has brought salvation even in this world. The ancient democracies
perished in corruption and in the civil wars, because, founded upon slavery,
they have not organized justice. Modern democracy will escape these
perils, if it succeeds in realizing the ideal proposed by Christ, and of
which the Last Supper is the image — that is to say, true human brother-
hood."
So the stone which the Yale professor rejects, French rationalism
makes the corner-stone of the new social edifice.
The professor, indeed, manifests no proper apprehension of the great
theme over which he so gayly and airily skips. Speaking alone from his
style, one would be tempted to say that by nature, in the absence of broad
sympathies, as well as by education, in the narrowness of the study to
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT 499
which his life is given, he is unfitted for the discussion of this subject in
its larger bearings. He is professor of the science of human selfishness, a
part, an important part, of human nature, but not the whole. He mistakes
it for the whole. He forgets that the great Founder of his science treated
it as a part, a subordinate part, of the science of moral philosophy — as duty
is higher than mere expediency. The professor talks as if his theme were
only a question of alms-giving and alms-taking, and is very solicitous lest
some one may rob the rich. He seems not to understand that one may
justly denounce a social state which results in the few becoming very rich
and the many very poor, and yet without attaching personal blame to
either the poor or the rich.
He displays numerous foolish utterances of real or imaginary people
about labor and capital, and discourses of them in true ad captandum
style. He boldly advocates the aggregation of capital in the individual as
a thing good for the public as well as the individual, and predicts much
larger individual gettings than those which now startle the world. He
has much to say about the importance of joint-stock companies and the
necessity for large aggregations of capital in this form ; thinks they will
be better managed if under the control of one man than a board, and
seems to imply that this will be better accomplished if the one man owns
the entire capital.
He expatiates on the difficulties of superintendence and the value in
this of one master-mind. He fails to see the frailty and brevity of a sys-
tem that depends upon a single life. What will become of the public
when this master-mind dies and his vast capital falls into the hands of
incompetent heirs ?
To the professor, the master-mind who sees all and sustains all without
help, a V example des dietix, in the language of Boileau, has a singular fas-
cination. But, unlike the gods, these master-minds die, and then comes
chaos.
Upon maturer reflection, the professor will see that the capital of the
great corporations had better be the swollen stream of many thousand riv-
ulets, so that their earnings will gladden the many and not the few alone.
He will also see that their management had better be in a board of direct-
ors, who will select the superintendent, so that while the individual will die
the orifice will be perennial.
It is true, such management has not always been honest or wise, the
officers serving themselves at the expense of the corporation ; indeed, that
wondrous skill in the superintendence which enriches itself is often only
dexterity in robbing the stockholder. There is, in fact, much exaggera-
50C THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
tion as to this work of superintendence; we measure others by ourselves,
and arc apt to admire an excellence we cannot reach.
To the cloistered professor the dashing man of affairs seems a prodigy,
when perhaps he is only a reckless but lucky gambler.
Here Mr. Ashley* steps to the side of Professor Sumner, as an apol-
ogist of the plutocrat. He also sneers at the faith of the fathers as the
theory of " forty acres and a mule," a theory cast off by robust men and rele-
gated to " the clergy and the women " and " Mill's Political Economy." He
seems to think it a good thing for the many to lose and the few to gain ;
good, not only for the few, but also for the many. "Accumulations," says
he, " of large quantities of wealth in single hands is indispensable in the
developing our country, and an indispensable reward of enterprise; but,
even leaving this out of the account, is for the greatest good of the great-
est number, because it best preserves capital and employs labor most pro-
ductively." He thus, under a similar necessity, reproduces the argument
of the slave-holder, that it is for the good of the slave to be a slave, for
capital to own labor. For this recreancy to the principles of the republic,
he finds his apology in the recent great growth of railways and telegraphs,
and in the assumed benefits to the public resulting from the ownership
of great lines by Vanderbilt and Gould. The only proof he gives of these
benefits is the fact that rates are less now than in 1863.
He ignores the fact that the growth of the country, with its vast in-
crease of business, produced this reduction, and attributes it all to the high
organizing capacity of these wonderful men. Yet, does he really think
that " Black Fridays," the scandalous briberies of the New York judiciary
in the " Erie imbroglio, " the vast " watering of Western Union " and of
" New York Central," the " corner," the " puts and calls " of Wall Street,
the manipulation of great lines by the Standard Oil Company, the "Credit
Mobiliers," the alternations of pools and rate-cutting, thus artificially rais-
ing and depressing stocks, that " the lambs may be fleeced," are in the
interest of the public and especially of cheap transportation? These
things are not the excrescences and abuses of a system otherwise useful ;
they are of its very essence, the creator of the plutocrat, without which he
would not exist. It is these things which have made American railway
management the by-word and reproach of the world ; made it so intoler-
able, not merely to the suffering public, but to the railroads themselves, that
they are beginning now to cry out for legislative relief. But were this
high organizing capacity in the interest of the public not a myth, is it
necessary to give the road to it to secure its services?
* Popular Science Monthly, Oct. 8, 1868.
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT 501
Railroad management is not more difficult than was our great war;
yet salaries of from five to ten thousand dollars procured competent serv-
ice, and "the rebels" for far less obtained, it will be admitted, respectable
service. Would higher salaries have secured for either better service ? 1 3
money the only motive for good work? We buy a President for §50,000
a year, might we not a railroad president for that sum ? And would lie
not be all the more efficient for the public, if he were forbidden stock
speculations ?
It is very true, as the professor says, that, like the laws of gravitation,
the laws of political economy are inexorable. He who violates them must
suffer, however excellent his intentions. But does it thence follow that
those learned in these laws and skilled in their application shall be per-
mitted to so use them as to create a power dangerous to society.
It is but justice to add that there are evidences in the closing pages of
his book that after all he is not quite satisfied that his plutocrat is the inno-
cent and useful being he has described.
A friendly critic comes to his relief, declaring, " The accumulation of
great wealth by individuals the author does not hold to be wrong. . . .
He holds that the power of wealth in the state should be restrained by
check and guarantees. A plutocracy might be far worse than an aristoc-
racy, and nowhere in the world, he says, is the danger of a plutocracy so
formidable as it is here. Its natural opponent is a republican democracy,
and experience already shows that the serious contest is between the plu-
tocratic and democratic forces. Wealth, by cunning combinations, can
destroy the guarantees of liberty ; it can buy legislatures to make the laws
and bribe courts to interpret them, and muzzle the press to silence expos-
ure. But this is only to say that the people do not choose honest and fit
legislators. The remedy is with the people, and it is a sure and final remedy,
except in one contingency, which is that the people themselves are cor-
rupted, and then, of course, popular government, in its real sense, expires.
But does not the critic here take from the professor the very ground
upon which he stands, or has the professor himself committed Jiari-kari?
If plutocracy is so dangerous to society why create it or permit it to arise?
Why not stamp out the kindling flame rather than wait and then vainly
struggle with the consuming conflagration ? Does not history teach that
democracy in vain contends with plutocracy, except in special junctures,
at long intervals and amid the throes of revolution ? And when the catas-
trophe comes can we complacently excuse ourselves in proclaiming the
people corrupt — a corruption which we have necessitated. For the gnaw-
ings of hunger stifle honor.
502 THE APOTHEOSIS OE THE PLUTOCRAT
The professor is learned in his seience and there is in his book much of
value. But the worship of mammon, here and now, needs no stimulation ;
certainly not at the expense of the "old prejudice/' ecclesiastical or other-
wise, in behalf of the weak and lowly — of the under dog in the fierce strug-
gle oi life.
There is, indeed, something higher than the laws of grasping selfish-
ness.
Even in this materialistic age, though the Yale professor may not rec-
ognize it, the inquiry is still pertinent, what shall it profit a people to gain
the whole world and lose their own souls?
In every age the wise and the humane have seen and deplored the social
disorder whereby society is ever divided into three more or less hostile
classes ; the few with a superabundance, plagued with ennui, satiety, and
surfeit, the many barely able to get the bread of life, and a middle class
who are neither rich nor poor.
The ceaseless conflict of interest and feeling between these classes and
the wretchedness of the most numerous produce the agitations and convul-
sions that ever imperil and often destroy society and states. This condi-
tion of affairs is especially dangerous in a free country. Aristotle observed
this long ago. " Inequality," says he, " is the source of all revolutions.
Men equal in one relation wish to be in all ; equal in liberty, they wish ab-
solute equality ; not obtaining this they persuade themselves that they are
wronged, and rise in insurrection." His remedy is, " Act that even the
poor may have an inheritance." The years that have rolled by have
brought us no greater wisdom.
The story of the race in its efforts after national life may be thus writ-
ten : Small beginnings in poverty ; rustic habits ; manly virtues ; prosperity ;
commerce; wealth; division into classes, a few becoming very rich, the
many very poor ; luxury above, misery below ; corruption ; civil commo-
tion ; loss of liberty ; loss of civilization ; death.
"There is the moral of all human tales ;
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past;
First freedom and then glory, when that fails,
Wealth, vice, corruption — barbarism at last."
May we escape this destiny? The problem of the ages, unsolved, is
how to reach that equality of which Aristotle speaks ; how to merge the
highest and the lowest classes into the middle class, in which none shall
have either riches or poverty.
The problem presses for solution now as never before. One would
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT 503
hope that valuable suggestions might be obtained from the leisure and
study of the college cloister. But our professor is disappointing; he find.
no disease and of course has no remedy. He generalizes. He style-, this
the age of contract, as contradistinguished from an age of slavery or tin-
feudal age. The laborer, indeed, is not a slave ; he suffers not the degra-
dation of that state, and here much is gained; but he loses its protection
when age and helplessness come. But as the laborer's only capital is his
strong arm ; as a day of idleness is a day to him forever lost ; as he cannot
wait and capital can ; unless he combines, strikes, boycotts, is he not help-
less in the presence of the capitalist? And yet the professor would take
his weapons from him : remitting him to the unpitying laws of supply and
demand — to remorseless competition. If he is not the strongest he must
go to the wall. If he is, he moves to the front. Let the successful, the
rich, eat, drink, and be merry, but know for all these things God will not
bring them to judgment. Let the unsuccessful, the poor, keep the peace,
be still, be content with their wretchedness. But, alas ! he will not ; and
here comes the danger to society, for which the boasted " economic laws"
of the professor provide no remedy. Like the ghost of Banquo, the suffer-
ing laborer will not down at the professor's bidding ; yet, like that ghost, he
is honest, and will not disturb society if it is not organized in injustice to
him. He knows that the law of competition takes from the weak and
gives to the strong. He knows also that in his numbers and in combina-
tion he is strong, and why shall he submit ; why shall he not reach for what
he desires and his strong arm can take? We are not justifying this; we
are stating the facts which the political economist may not ignore. The
laborer looks abroad ; he sees everywhere rising noble palaces in flowery
gardens, with all the dazzling splendors of ostentatious wealth. These are
the products of his labor and he enjoys them not.
He reads ; while his home is becoming more wretched he learns of
the hundreds of millions that a few cunning gamblers have in a few
years accumulated. He asks himself is this all right. The professor tells
him such are the inexorable laws of economic science. Does this bring
him consolation? does it to you, reader? However this may be or ought
to be, behold the unrest of nations ; everywhere society rests upon unsteady
ground. It is an age of education ; knowledge is diffused as never before ;
the railroad, the telegraph, and the newspaper teach. It has been said
that the bayonet thinks. So, too, do the spindle, the hammer, the pick,
and the spade.
This equalization of knowledge makes the inequality of condition the
more galling. In vain may we cry," Peace, be still !" to the suffering millions
5 4 THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
in the presence of the few rioting in luxury, when the millions know their
rights or what they deem their rights, and their power to secure them.
With increase of population and increase of misery will come increased
danger. So, if relief come not otherwise, modern society may seek to escape
the fate of the ancient through social revolution, with its attendant dread
calamities and unknown beyond. We may not forget in this connection
that the old restraints of society are weakening ; and there are no new.
If, as the historian Green says, Calvinism " first revealed the worth and
dignity of man," it is also true that the Darwinian philosophy, as taught
by some of the greatest lights of science, ruthlessly robs him of that worth
and dignity, in making him morally and intellectually, as well as physically,
a mere brute; in taking away from him his Almighty Father, upon whom
he may lean in every time of need ; and in denying to him life beyond the
grave. So that the unhappy victim at once of social oppression and the
unpitying laws of nature has no hope in this world or in the next. He,
too, may become pitiless.
Society seems, for the first time, about to try the experiment of getting
along without God in the world, substituting therefor the social and scien-
tific doctrine that the world belongs to the strongest. Have we fully in their
heights and depths measured the moral and social consequences of these
teachings? Is the Darwinian philosophy anti-democratic? M. Caro thinks
so. Yet, as we have already seen, democracy in the past has not been able
to contend permanently against plutocracy. If democracy has in a con-
vulsive effort, as in the French Revolution, overthrown plutocracy, and
secured for the moment some equality of condition, the victory has been
transient and the plutocrat soon resumed his sway. Were the Commune
to prevail now and the leveling of classes to take place, would the equal-
ity of condition remain ? Are there new forces in society strong
enough to preserve the results attained? If the rule of competition, un-
restrained, still governed, would it not again assert itself in building up a
new plutocracy, to be in its turn, it may be, overthrown by a new revolu-
tion ? Rather, would not society, as in the past, seek in the empire rest
and security? And here we may remember that out of the feudal sys-
tem of the Middle Ages arose the kingship, for the protection of the
people against the oppressions of the barons. The king, in his lofty
isolation; having no interest except in the well-being of his people, became
their protector against the barons.
Now, if the plutocrats combine, and through the control of corporate
grants and favoring custom laws become ail-powerful ; if they own the press ;
buy up the legislatures ; bribe the judiciary, and corrupt the voters whom
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRA1 505
their ill or well gotten wealth has reduced to helplessness, may not society,
with or without revolution, seek the hereditary monarch as a protection
against the grasping selfishness of the barons of the stock-board ? To him
their money is no temptation.
" The empire of Caesar," says Mommsen, "brought to the sorely harassed
people of the Mediterranean a tolerable evening after a sultry noon." The
Napoleonic cry of a democratic empire has reason. The fathers of the
republic were keenly alive to the dangers of a plutocracy. Addressing
the constitutional convention, Dickerson, himself a plutocrat, says : "A
veneration for poverty and virtue is the object of republican encourage-
ment." "The men who have most injured the country," says Rufus
King to the Massachusetts convention, "have commonly been rich men."
" I dislike," said Franklin to the constitutional convention, " everything
' that tends to debase the spirit of the common people. If honest}- is often
the companion of wealth, and if poverty is exposed to peculiar tempta-
tion, the possession of property increases the desire for more. Some of
the greatest rogues I ever was acquainted with were the richest rogues."
To give effect to these sentiments, they prohibited entails and primogeni-
ture, and believed they had thereby undermined and destroyed the pluto-
crat. " The present law of inheritance," says Hamilton, " making an equal
division among the children of the parents' property, will soon melt down
the great estates."
This has proved a delusion ; new conditions have arisen, enabling the
few to rapidly accumulate and retain colossal fortunes. Corporate shares,
the telegraph, and the railroad have infinitely multiplied the powers of man.
The great capitalist, seated at his desk in .New York, with the quickness
of the electric spark can raise or depress the price of the poor man's food
or clothing in the remotest corner of Oregon or Texas. Stocks are the
dice with which the cunning gamester is winning the property of the world ;
great combinations of capital are formed, suffocating all small operators,
and through tariffs and otherwise establishing monopolies more grinding
and exclusive than the royal grants of the Middle Ages. Under the opera-
tion of these causes, a class of citizens is growing up possessing more than
princely fortunes, with the promise of owning this great continent. The
tendency otherwise and through new political ways is to the concentration
of all political power in the rich. Everywhere the desire is to have a
candidate of ample fortune and generous prodigality ; and our Senate is
fast becoming an assemblage of mere Crcesi. We seem to enter upon the
ways of the Roman republic towards its decline. When, if ever, we shall
have an upper class possessed of all political power and boundless wealth,
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6.— 34
5C6 THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
with a vast " residuum " population yet voting, and a small middle class
ground between the upper and nether millstone, history may repeat itself,
and our streets may resound with the tread of contending Milos and Clodii>
and their swarms of mercenary retainers.
But where is the relief, that our republic may endure ?
A famous politician, recently speaking, waves aside every effort as
" quack" remedies, save only his panacea for all ills, the tariff. As if the
poor man's condition was bettered by increasing the price of his hat or
shoe. The theories of Henry George have their speculative interest, but
the}' are outside of the domain of practical politics. The owners of land
in this country as yet are too numerous to permit its confiscation. The
radical socialistic schemes are alien to the genius of our Anglo-Saxon civili-
zation, which follows a slow and tireless evolution, abhorring cataclysms.
No one, indeed, has found out how we may make all rich, or maintain in
civilized society a general equality of condition. The problem is appalling
to the stoutest intellect ; but it is one that we cannot escape and live — we
must attempt its solution ; and here, it is plain, we must move slowly and
tentatively. It is something to know the problems before us — what the
demands of the hour are. Two things seem plain ; we must restrain the
corrupt use of the power of wealth ; we must restrain the undue accumu-
lation of individual wealth, and this without weakening the spur to enter-
prise. And to these ends various suggestions have been made :
Were the railroads and telegraph lines controlled by government ; were
a limitation put upon land ownership ; were custom duties, with certain
exceptions as to liquors, etc., abolished, and revenues raised by wisely
regulated and graduated succession and income taxes, something would be
accomplished. Railroads and telegraph lines are in their nature a monop-
oly. They have become so essential to our modern life that interruption
in them is a public calamity. There is therefore a propriety in government
control or ownership, that the benefits of the monopoly may accrue to the
whole people, and that the public may be protected from interruption.
There is an especial necessity for government control of the telegraphy
and in the preservation of the independence and purity of the press. It is
alleged, I know not with what truth, that the telegraph now makes and
unmakes newspapers by discriminations in its rates. However this may
be, the power to do this should be taken away. It is true, this government
control in affairs violates certain well-worn maxims of state, such as " the
world is governed too much." But these maxims had their origin in a
different condition of things, and are no longer applicable. Where govern-
ment represented the few, and was used to oppress the many, the less
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT 507
government the better. But now, when government represents the many,
it should serve them.
It is also said that government work is blunderingly done; were this
true, yet done in the interest of the people, it would serve them better than
more skillful work by the skilled few, done in their own interest. At hast,
government control would prevent railroad wrecking, watering of stock,
strikes, and the war of rates; and the dice of the cunning gamesters would
be greatly diminished. We repeat : no doubt these suggestions are offen-
sive to the laissez-faire principle that has had partial sway in the world for
the last hundred years.
But, " Let it not be forgotten," says Mr. Goshen, M. P., in an admirable
address at Edinburgh, " that this principle owed its origin not to hard, im-
passive theory and cold-blooded economists, but to a school of ardent and
almost revolutionary social and philosophical reformers, the physiocrats, as
they are called, of the eighteenth century." So rapidly have inroads upon
these principles been made recently in England — conspicuously seen in the
Irish Land Act and in the recent movement to build houses for the poor — that
the London Times of date November 9, 1883, declares: " Be the result what
it may, it can hardly be doubted by any one who watches the tendencies of
the time that laissez faire is practically abandoned, and that every piece
of state interference will pave the way for another." The Times maintains
that this abandonment of the laissez faire is in obedience to the laws of
national evolution ; that when population is " sparse," when men grow their
own food, spin their own wool, and practically make their own clothing,
social relations are necessarily simple. Let population be increased, labor
divided, and society organized so that interdependence takes the place of
substantial isolation, and the need for regulation speedily makes itself
felt. Here, as elsewhere, Anglo-Saxon civilization is the helpless bonds-
man of no theory, but does the thing needful without too much concern
about conformity to theory.
In our country there is great freedom of devise and no succession tax.
In other states there are limitations upon disposition by will, and graded
succession duties.
What is more reasonable? A man may claim the fruit of his own labor,
but not that of another, even his own father.
Mr. Mill thinks no one should inherit more than "a comfortable inde-
pendence." To regulate this may be difficult, but something may be done
in the interest of the whole, as well as of the children, preventing them
becoming mere drones.
In this country there is a prejudice against income taxes ; not so in
508 THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT
England. There they are a fixed form of raising revenue. When war is
made Mr. Gladstone pays for it by an increase of the income tax. This is
well. For it has a tendency to restrain the noble game. There is a special
propriety in this country in levying an income tax. Here the untaxable
bonded indebtedness enables the rich man to escape taxes. But when the
law of the bond was enacted, there was simultaneously laid upon it an in-
come tax. This became, as it were, a part of the bond contract, and should
have remained during the life of the bond. There is also a general pro-
priety in levying income taxes. Those who have the most to protect, and
who receive the greatest benefits from the protection of society, should
bear the cost of that protection. It is evident that income taxes can be so
graduated as to make excessive accumulation impossible. It is true that
the question. What is excessive accumulation ? admits of no exact answer ;
that it must ever be a varying question. But it admits of approximate
determination, and any wise income tax would leave a large margin.
I hear many voices proclaiming that a limit to accumulation would take
away the spur to enterprise. But what, under existing conditions, is the
incentive to accumulation beyond a competency ? The amount necessary
to gratify every rational want is not great. " Man wants but little here
below, nor wants that little long." When this little is obtained why do
men labor to obtain more? Is it not for the gratification of vanity, for
display and ostentation, or for some benevolent use ? I once asked a very
rich man, u What are you doing ?" " Increasing my pile." " Why ? " " That
I may have a bigger one than my neighbor." Another accumulates that he
may have a splendid stud, and drive a team that will make the beholders
stare. Another, that he may visit the nations in a yacht, to be gazed at.
Another, that his wife may display the most and the largest diamonds, and
yet another that he may give the most elegant entertainments, resplendent
with brilliant plate and stunning floral decoration — all at fabulous cost.
The cost is the relish ; it is in this that the rich can excel. Yet we have
not reached in this line the excellence of the ancients, when Hortensius
watered his trees with wine; the comedian, ^Esop, entertained his guests
with a dish of the tongues of parrots that had learned to talk, costing
twenty-six thousand dollars, and the beautiful Poppsea preserved the fresh-
ness of her complexion by bathing in asses' milk, furnished her by five
hundred of these animals, that ever attended her in her travels. But we
are making progress. The adornments of the hall, on a late festive occa-
sion in New York, must have reminded the Lord Chief Justice of the im-
moderateness of oriental magnificence. Here the oldest and the youngest
civilizations touch. Is the accomplishment of such ends as these the only
THE APOTHEOSIS OF THE PLUTOCRAT 509
spur to enterprise? — ends that stimulate on the one side vanity and pride,
and on the other envy and hatred. Hence the traditional insincerity and
heartlessness of fashionable society.
If, under the new condition of things, the play of these unholy passions
shall be extinguished even though material interests suffer, would society
be the loser ? M. Laveleye has happily said : " Those great reformers, who
have changed in every country the direction of thought, Moses, Socrates,
Buddha, Jesus, have lived upon little. It is not in the bosom of delights
that kindles the flame which purifies humanity. One can almost say that
moral greatness is not in proportion to, but in the inverse ratio of, wealth.''
But the material interests will not suffer ; new incentives to enterprise-
will arise ; when one cannot accumulate for himself, he will accumulate
for others and for the public. This one with his surplus will found an
asylum ; that one, a college ; others, museums, art galleries, and so on. A
noble rivalry in generous works will become the fashion. The income laws
could be made to favor accumulations for these purposes. Thus, under
the new conditions, the love of display innate in man would take a moral
instead of an immoral direction.*
In conclusion we may add: These remedies may on trial prove inade-
quate and even illusory, but in their ashes may be found the germ of some-
thing worthier. Unless, indeed, society cannot escape convulsion. For in
these last years of the nineteenth century the irresistible stream of tend-
ency is socialistic. Knowledge is abroad ; the essential equality of all men
is apparent ; the galling bitterness of the existing conditions irritates, mad-
dens. The world will not wag on always in the future as in the past, the
few enjoying all, the many suffering all. If the dominant classes are wise,
they will float with the stream, directing it and keeping it within safe
channels. They may thus prevent, on the one hand, catastrophe and
confiscation, on the other, " the Dead-Sea calm of an universal trades
union."
* " Quand l'opinion ne s'incline que devant la vertu, l'amour-propre ou la vanite devient un pou-
issant stimulant pour le bien. Quand au contraire, l'opinion adore la richesse, l'amour-propre
pousse au luxe et a la corruption." — M. Laveleye.
A WINTER'S WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
I
HOW HE MARCHED AN INFANTRY BATTALION FROM NEW MEXICO TO SAN
DIEGO, CALIFORNIA, WITHOUT ROAD OR GUIDE
In the autumn of 1846, General S. W. Kearny, commanding the Army
of the West, having overcome all resistance and established a territorial
government in New Mexico, set out on his march with a competent force
to take possession of California, as military commander and governor.
October 2, he met Kit Carson, who was coming, by the Gila River, from
California, at the head of an express party, with dispatches for the gov-
ernment at Washington, conveying information that California had sub-
mitted to forces under Commodore Stockton and Lieutenant-Colonel Fre-
mont (afterwards found delusive). Kearny then sent back his forces,
retaining only an escort of one hundred dragoons.
Only a few days before he had received information of the approach to
Santa Fe of Colonel Price's regiment of volunteers ; and also of an infantry
battalion, and of the decease of its commander, Lieutenant-Colonel James
Allen (captain of dragoons). Captain Cooke, of dragoons, was appointed
to take the vacant command ; and was sent back to Santa Fe, about one
hundred and twenty-eight miles, to assume command on its arrival, and set
out on a march to California as soon as possible ; to take wagons, and find
a route south of the Gila.
Meanwhile General Kearny pursued his march by the Gila route, taking
Carson back as guide. But in three days he became thoroughly convinced
that the route was impracticable for wagons. He halted several days, while
arrangements were made for packing, and took his final departure Octo-
ber 14.
Colonel Cooke found that the government had neither funds nor credit
in New Mexico. One consequence was that a company of one hundred
volunteers from Doniphan's regiment, who were to be mounted on mules
and accompany his march, could not purchase the mules ; and it had to
be sriveti u
P-
A winter's work ok a captain of dragoons 511
But the worst result was in the matter of transportation : I could only
procure half-broken-down mules, and far from enough of them ; and for a
march which lasted one hundred and three days, I could only obtain, or,
in fact, carry, rations of pork for thirty days, and flour for sixty days.
The battalion marched October 19. In marching through the villages
and settlements of the Rio Grande, continual efforts were made to purchase
mules, and to change broken-down for good animals; to procure beeves
and sheep. In fact, the whole expedition was a daily series of anxious
expedients and makeshifts.
General Kearny left six or seven men for me, called guides. They
were not guides, for they did not know the country to be passed ; and
almost their sole service was to go some days in advance, looking for water,
as near the best course as it could be found : finding some, a man came
back to report, while the others looked farther ; but there was nothing reg-
ular, and it was seldom that water was found for two nights in succes-
sion.
The camp was at Ojo de Vaca (cow spring) November 20 ; the water-
hunters had come in with bad accounts ; only one water, about nine miles off,
had been found; there was a conical hill, and an old trail passed southward,
from the copper-mines near the Gila. Anxiously I surveyed the western
view — it seemed an unlimited prairie, with no indication or sign of water ;
the guides pronounced it a desperate risk to enter that desert, and they
had some theory that the trail would answer our purpose.
And so next day I marched on the trail a mile, when, finding it in-
clining more to the East, without a word to any one, I changed the di-
rection of the march square to the right. I have gone into these details
to give a full understanding of the subject of guides.
We reached a very fine spring, December 2, in a rich valley, and
the ruins of a large rancho supposed to be named San Bernardino; I
remained a day, and we met and traded with some Apaches. But here,
most important, the battalion hunted, and killed a good supply of beef,
and this resource was enjoyed about twelve days, until the San Pedro
river was reached and left. The cattle, or their sires, had escaped when
the Apaches broke up a number of large ranchos ; we passed the ruins of
another on the San Pedro. They were quite as wild as buffalo, and more
dangerous. It is most probable that this full supply saved the battalion
from a great disaster.
Communication was had with the commander, as we approached Tuc-
son, and we found it evacuated. Two days were passed here, and pos-
session was taken of a supply of government wheat, found in the fort;
512 A WINTERS WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
also oi tobacco. The wheat was a most welcome addition to the subsist-
ence of both men and mules.
The inarch from Tucson to the Gila was over seventy miles of a level
clay and sand, waterless desert ; it wras made in fifty-two hours, parts of
three nights; no ration was issued, and the third night the captains were
allowed to get their companies on the best they could. But ten miles
from the river the battalion encamped at some rain-water pools.
At the Gila I fell into General Kearny's trail ; and a few miles below are
villages of Pimo and Maracopa Indians; very moral and every way inter-
esting; in fact, half civilized, self-developed, without the vices of white
men. They are not aggressive, but have made other tribes afraid to at-
tack them ; so they live in peace.
January 10, day and night, the Rio Grande was crossed about ten
miles below the mouth of the Gila ; the river is as large and deep as the
Missouri ; the ford was about a mile, with a sand island in the midst ; it
swam, in places, the smaller mules. I had two water-tight wagon bodies ;
these very slowly carried the men, and the little baggage and provisions
left.
Poor, exhausted men ! it seemed as if they could not be got over, and
I could not be on both sides ; and they had sterner trial just ahead ! There
was no grazing the west side, and the march must go on ; I had to leave
one company in the middle of the river ; I knew it would excite energy.
I expected to find a well of water fifteen miles on; when we arrived it
was dry. . . . Across this desert — which is evidently a former bottom
of the Gulf — the battalion marched irregularly, partly by night ; I give an
official resume of part of it : " Thus, without water for near three days,
for the animals, and camping two nights in succession without water, the
battalion made, in forty-eight hours, four marches of eighteen, eight,
eleven, and nineteen miles, suffering from frost, and from summer heat."
At this time their sole food was fresh meat ; and of many the feet were
bare save for wrappings.
Between this desert and the ocean was found no great obstacle to a
railroad ; the Sierra Nevada does not extend so far, or becomes broken
into irregular, low mountains, with passes.
The battalion arrived and camped at San Diego Mission, six miles
from San Diego, January 29, 1847. It had marched eleven hundred miles
from Santa Fe, in a hundred and three days ; but from Fort Leavenworth
about eighteen hundred miles.
A WINTERS WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS 513
II
HOW HE MADE A ROAD AND MAP, DISCOVERING A PRACTICABLE RAIL-
ROAD ROUTE TO THE PACIFIC, YEARS BEFORE ANY OTHER; AND
HOW HE MADE A NEW SOUTHERN BOUNDARY OF THE UNITED STATES
No commander could have more multiplied and anxious cares than the
lieutenant-colonel of this battalion, without instruction, but undertaking
a fearful task. But with all his labors, he took upon himself another, viz. :
to make a map of the country and road as he passed.*
A pocket compass, pencil, and a small, ruled blank-book constituted all
the appliances ; the distance of ruled lines gave the scale of miles ; an old
habit of estimating distances marched by the watch and hourly rate had
given him great accuracy, and thus he completed the dead reckoning.
The notes were mostly taken on muleback.
From the point where General Kearny left the Rio Grande, about two
hundred and twenty-eight miles below Santa Fe, and where our routes
diverged, I made, as described, a map or sketch. Captain Emory, Topo-
graphical Engineers, of General Kearny's staff, had the special duty of
making a map, with the use, of course, of the best instruments. Afterward,
when Captain Emory was making over his map, in Washington, my sketch
was put in his hands ; he expressed great surprise at its accuracy, and
copied it on his official map. It appeared on numerous maps and atlases
as '' Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke's wagon road." The treaty of peace and
boundaries with Mexico established the Gila River as part of the boundary.
A new administration, in which southern interests prevailed, and with the
great problem of the practicability of a transcontinental railroad still un-
solved, had the map of this route and the report of the whole march before
them, in a congressional document. These gave exactly the solution of
the problem ; relieved the great apprehensions of the lofty Rocky Moun-
tains and Sierra Nevada, and of their snows ; for here no important
obstacle existed.
The new Gadsden Treaty was the result; it was signed December 30.
1853. Accordingly it is found that the new boundary is constituted of
arbitrary right lines and angles, with no mentioned or actual natural object
or feature ; only it makes the most southern line a tangent to the great
southern bend of my road ; that accomplished, a right line, to the west and
north, to the Colorado, some ten miles below my crossing, completes the
new boundary, which embraces the whole route. The territory gained is
* The Conquest of New Mexico and California, Putnam's Sons, New York.
514 A WINTER'S WORK Ok A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS
not all rainless or waterless or mountainous, and it includes a frontier gar-
rison town, Tucson.
Explorations and surveys were made, even after the new treaty ; five
special routes were examined and reported upon — one near 47th and 49th
parallels of latitude, another near the 41st and 42d, one near the 35th
parallel, and one near the 33d — in part the route of the battalion.
In February, 1855, the Secretary of War reported to Congress these
explorations and surveys, and he expressed the decided opinion that the
so-called 33d parallel route " was the most practicable and economical
route for a railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean." *
This is the present " Southern Pacific."
Ill
AND HOW HIS BATTALION PUT AN END TO THE FREMONT MUTINY
After putting the battalion in camp at San Diego Mission I rode six
miles to San Diego and reported to General Kearny.
General Kearny, accompanied by Commodore Stockton, whom he had
persuaded that it was his duty to use his marine force by land against the
Californians who were in arms and in large force, had marched from San
Diego for Pueblo de los Angeles December 29. On January 8 and 9 he
had defeated the insurgents, and on the nth occupied that capital.
Colonel Fremont had been marching his mounted men to meet these
enemies for six weeks — three hundred and fifty-four miles in all ; this rate,
of about eight miles a day, was not hastened by daily news received, and
even official notice, of the approaching conflicts. Accordingly, when the
capital surrendered he was a few miles off, and, with a governor de facto,
and a legal governor (and general officer) at the head of troops in the
capital which they had just captured, made a treaty of capitulation and
peace with the insurgent commander!
This last signed himself " Andrew Pico, Commandant of Squadron, Chief
of the National Forces of California." Fremont signed himself " Military
Commandant of California." The document is made to appear executed at
Los Angeles, January 16, when Stockton and Kearny were both present ! f
Strange use of falsehood, that does not deceive.
On Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont's meeting General Kearny, at Los Ange-
les, he refused to obey him, and to put the " battalion " under his orders.
* See General O. M. Poe's able report on Transcontinental Railways, in General Sherman's
last annual report, 1883.
+ Stockton forwarded it to the Secretary of the Navy on the 15th !
A WINTERS WORK OF A CAPTAIN OF DRAGOONS 515
General Kearny, on the 18th, set out with his sixty dismounted dragoons
to return to San Diego.
January 14, Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont marched his battalion into
Los Angeles. Commodore Stockton appointed Fremont governor of Cali-
fornia, January 19.
General Kearny was on the eve of embarking on a ship of war for
Monterey, when I reported to him. He instructed me to march to San
Luis Rey, a fine large mission in good preservation, fifty-three miles on the
Los Angeles road, and there take quarters, and await events ; but to ex-
ercise such authority or power as might become necessary, in my judg-
ment. Commodore Shubrick was then expected at Monterey as Com-
mander of the Pacific Squadron.
Colonel Fremont was now at Los Angeles, and his battalion in a neigh-
boring strong mission.
It seems difficult to name or characterize this body of mountain and
prairie wanderers collected by Colonel Fremont. They had never been
mustered in United States service — had never done any service ; there
was no one of them (lieutenant-colonel included) who could give the first
lesson of any kind of military instruction ; from all the revolutionary skir-
mishes at the North they seem to have been notably absent. But they
were hirelings, and of a man who they believed had great backing, and to
support his mutiny was as dignified and military a part as they had yet
performed.
Colonel Fremont's " Secretary of State " paid his respects at San Luis
Rey, on his way to " represent the government " at Commodore Stockton's
22d February ball at Monterey. He gave out that the " Governor" would
resist by force any attack made to displace him ; that two companies of
Californians had been raised for service ; and that " a thousand Califor-
nians would rise to support him," etc. But I considered this " representa-
tive's " opinions and assertions equally unreliable.
I find, taken from a journal, the following somewhat humorous entry
for March 1. " For forty days I have commanded the legal forces in Cali-
fornia, the war still existing; and, not pretending to the highest authority
of any sort, have had no communication with any higher, or any other,
military, naval, or civil. ... I have put a garrison in San Diego, the
civil officers, appointed by a naval officer, otherwise refusing to serve,
while a naval officer ashore is styled by some ' Governor of San Diego.'
" General Kearny is supreme somewhere up the coast ; Colonel Fremont
supreme at Pueblo de los Angeles ; Commodore Stockton is ' Com-
mander-in-Chief at San Diego; Commodore Shubrick the same at Monte-
5 16 A winter's work of a captain of dragoons
rev. and I at San Luis Rev; and we are all supremely poor, the govern-
ment having no supplies, money, or credit, and we hold the territory be-
cause Mexico is poorest of all."
Whether or not from poverty, my battalion had for several weeks been
wholly without rations — save beef, the drug of the country.
(An officer was sent to the Sandwich Islands, for specie and rations.)
March 14, Major H. S. Turner, aid-de-camp of General Kearny, ar-
rived at the mission. He bore an announcement of Commodore Shu-
brick, " Commander-in-Chief of the Naval Forces," and General Kearny,
as governor, all by government assignment ; also a proclamation of
Governor Kearny.
Major Turner delivered to Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont an order to dis-
band his battalion ; but those of them that desired it should be mustered
into public service. He also delivered an order placing Lieutenant-
Colonel Cooke in command of the southern half of California.
Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke sent a courier to Lieutenant-Colonel Fremont
to ascertain what number of the men had been mustered into service.
An answer came from a " Governor " by his " Secretary of State," that
none had consented to enter the public service ; but, as rumors of insurrec-
tion were rife, it was not deemed safe to disband them. He asked for no
assistance, but added the " battalion would be amply sufficient for the
safety of the artillery and ordnance stores."
But Lieutenant-Colonel Cooke immediately broke up at San Luis Rey,
and inarched for Los Angeles, where he arrived March 23. He was met
very politely by Major Gillespie, and informed that Colonel Fremont had
left for Monterey the day before.
0s-
NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
ITS PHYSICAL BASIS AND INTELLECTUAL LIFE
"How many acres in that college quadrangle at Harvard Square"""
" About a hundred and fifty," answered one of the divinity-school men.
" No, not less than six hundred," rejoined another. Their answers show
our need of definite knowledge.
The little quadrangle in question contains about twenty-three acres.
It carries five ample dwelling-houses, two chapels, seven big dormitories, five
large buildings full of lecture-rooms or laboratories, besides the old Dane
Law School building, and the huge granite library building known as Gore
Hall. These are about half of the college buildings. Others are scattered
here and there. Across the road to the south and west are other dormi-
tories. Beyond the roads to the north are Memorial Hall, gymnasiums, the
new Law School, the Divinity Hall, with its new library, the Scientific
School, and the museums. A mile to the west are the Observatory and
the Botanic Garden ; while the Medical School and Dental School are
three miles away, in Boston, and the Farm School, with the School of Vet-
erinary Medicine, is three or four miles farther off, at Jamaica Plain.
The fact that the college works with so many hands and covers so much
ground is what keeps her so wretchedly poor. For, to suppose that Har-
vard is just rolling in wealth and doesn't know what to do with her cash,
is about as correct as that divinity-school estimate of the college quad-
rangle. Harvard would be rich if she were not ambitious. Lazy colleges
grow rich. But at Cambridge some very live men know that power means
duty — that money brings opportunity and responsibility. If they see any-
thing good in " Fair Harvard," they see nothing to make men vain, but
only the good beginning of something which they intend to make better.
Harvard is still growing. It has a future as well as a past, and the most
remarkable thing about its life to-day is the pluck, the true grit, with
which its sons face the music of the present.
The school needs about five million dollars to set it well upon its feet,
and to make it the great university it is destined to be. But those millions
are sure to come, as others have come, because these live men believe in
that practical sense which vigorously abandons the methods of the darker
ages and faces the future. The administration of President Eliot, when it
518 NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
is concluded, will stand as a monument to commemorate this American
genius for college building.
But Harvard's glory is apparent in her poverty. The pressure upon
her resources is simply tremendous. Men less kind and courteous would
be ceaselessly wrangling and bitterly jealous, if called to struggle as these
do for their share of the college income; while each department, each
scientific school, the gymnasium, the library, get but part of what they
need, and each is just able to pull through the year and not run in debt.
This only means that the life of the school is grandly vigorous. Its vari-
ous departments beset the sorely tried president and treasurer with the
appetites of growing boys. But that appetite shows that the family re-
sources are increasing, and that the college loaf will be big enough by and
by.
The physical and financial foundation of Harvard to-day lies about in
the following shape : the college grounds, buildings, libraries, labora-
tories, with their equipments, have cost several million dollars. Nobody
asks or cares how many, for all look to the future, not to the past. The
business carried on in the several departments is as follows :
RECEIVES. PAYS OUT.
Dental School $6105 $7,415
Veterinary School 17,189 17,556
Medical School 66,379 65,377
Observatory 18,355 15,168
Library 22,876 37,684
Scientific School 42,862 31,069
Law School 35,408 32,151
Divinity School 61,449 28,047
The College 295,214 265,982
The University 40,912 43,637
Total $606,749 $544,086
Surplus in 1886 62,663
The year 1887 will add about a million dollars to Harvard's productive
property by bringing in two large bequests. Her wealthy sons, dying or
preparing to die, always remember their alma mater. Their confidence in
her grows as they see how wisely her affairs are handled. Her treasurer
gets more than five per cent, upon her large investments, which men deem
a high rate in New England now. And her productive property is quoted
as §5,190,772.35. This amount will soon be doubled. The financial basis
may be counted as already secure.
About six million dollars of endowment are now happily invested.
Several millions' worth of grand buildings, with all that man could ask for
NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE 519
in the way of libraries, apparatus, etc., are thronged with students. But
there is something better yet at Harvard. It takes more than money to
make a college — that is, a college of the future. Wisdom cannot he-
bought. Experience costs time and tears. Sectarian colleges, and prob-
ably all others, have their squabbling age, an age of hair-pulling and scratch-
ing, an age of petty jealousies, rivalries, and quarrels. If any man doubts
that, let him come here and read the story of Harvard's childhood. It
took two hundred years to outgrow it. It makes a curious record, this
story of the Puritan popes who wanted to be president, or wanted a pro-
fessorship for self or son, or wanted a certain policy pursued, a course of
study introduced, or a certain theology adopted. Affairs now move with
an amazing absence of friction. Personal relations are charmingly free
from constraint. We can have all courses of study desired, and the theol-
ogies are welcome, one and all.
Of course, this means only that the pioneer work is done, the forests
are felled, the stumps are rooted out, fences are up, buildings are ready,
and the harvests are coming in.
The young men now at work here rank as follows: Freshmen, 280;
Sophomores, 224 ; Juniors, 238 ; Seniors, 239 ; Resident graduates and
students, 166; Horse Doctors, 25; Dentists, 28; Natural Sciences, 22;
Physicians, 271 ; Ministers, 20 ; Lawyers, 180. Number of students, 1,693 ;
number of teachers, 179.
It may cause surprise that so few are recorded as special students of
science. But a grand science school, the Institute of Technology, in Bos-
ton, gathers a thousand men who might otherwise come here. The thou-
sand students in the college proper are all students of science ; while they
remember, too, that history is a science, and that literature, political econ-
omy, and ethics are sciences as well as arts. It is well understood here
that a man of science may easily be a narrow-minded bigot and a
thoroughly ignorant man. It is often said that one who is to become a
specialist — to devote his life to one thing — needs, first of all, the broadest
possible culture for a foundation, to save him from becoming narrow-
minded and being left specially ignorant because of his specialty.
Harvard, we say, has passed her childhood ; the worries of her teeth-
ing are over, and she is fairly weaned. The ecclesiastical nurses so kind
to her in her tender years have let her go at last — somewhat reluctantly.
She knows, meanwhile, that she could not have passed her babyhood with-
out their help, and her relations with them are sure to remain kindly.
There is no talk here of the conflict of religion and science. Nobody here
gives the name " religion "to that dead forest of theology whose dry limbs
520 NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
are cracking and falling with every vigorous wind that stirs. And nobody
has done more than the clergy to free old Harvard from certain false
theories as to stud}' which fettered her young feet quite as sorely as any
false theology ever tied her hands.
Dr. Bellows sounded a trumpet-call for this scholarly advance when he
spoke here, in 1853, of " The Ledger and the Lexicon." He showed that
business educates men, and that the best college is only a preparatory school,
fitting the boy to begin that larger education which lasts through life.
That masterly oration might well be taken as a landmark from which to
measure the gain in our ideas as to a college boy's training. Dr. Bellows
knew right well that danger and difficulty are the two great educators.
He knew that nothing else so sharpens the eye, quickens the conscience,
trains the judgment, steadies and strengthens the will, as does the taking
of risks while bearing responsibility. And he held our manufacturers and
our merchant princes to be the best educated men in America. Such a
view was a novelty in Cambridge. It might well be thought to cast con-
tempt on scholarship. It made men open their eyes very wide. But that
was just what the orator wanted. He knew that the dust of old lexicons
had made many eyes feeble and timid. He meant all that he said,
and he hoped that those peeping, squinting eyes should be opened so
wide that Boston men could see at least as far west as the Hudson River,
if they could not see also our people's great need of practical training, in
that wilderness beyond the Mississippi. Nothing is truly beautiful, he said,
which is not also useful. Virtue does not lose its beauty, " like a Chinese
lady's foot," when it is made useful as well as beautiful. Utility is a vul-
gar word only when used in a vulgar way.
Old Harvard's life has never lost the vigorous impulse given by Dr. Bel-
lows's grand words. The West has become the teacher of the East. Charles
Francis Adams, as President of the Union Pacific Railway, learns more
there than he ever learned in college here. It is he who says to-day more
loudly than anybody else, " A live language is as good as a dead one, if
not a good deal better ; and you shall not compel our boys to study Greek
unless they wish to study Greek."
Yet the most important thing is not what we study, but how. Greek
can be studied here with admirable facilities ; so can all the languages and
all the sciences, and the best of it all is that good as are the helps and high
as are the standards, nobody has such a conceited estimate of them as not
earnestly to strive to make them better. Knowledge is here thoroughly
humble over its own ignorance; it knows enough to know its own limita-
tions. The college life is so vigorous as to spend nearly a million dollars
NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
21
a year, and still feel wretchedly pinched in every department by poverty.
And the mental life is so vigorous that scholars feel, all the time, mortally
ashamed of doing so little.
Men here know that a comfortably padded professor's chair makes much
too soft a seat for a man. Its embrace is fatal. It makes a soft head and
a lazy heart, if a teacher may loaf away his life therein in elegant leisure.
Old Harvard knew something of that ; it is now largely a thing of the past.
The examination of a teacher here is now quite as sharp as that of a stu-
dent. He is asked every year as to what he is doing. Is he growing'' Is
he learning? Is he producing anything? If not, " Why cumbereth it the
ground ? "
In 1881 a list was printed of the publications of Harvard University
and its officers for the ten years, 1 870- 1880. Last year a similar list saw
the light, giving the publications of the five years, 1881-1885. Books,
pamphlets, magazine articles, contributions to newspapers, anything that
shows mental life — you find them all in this record. For five years the
rate of production was not low when, in that time, these publications num-
ber nearly 1,800. Of these about 500 treat literary topics, while over
1,200 deal with questions of science.
When the teachers work thus, the scholars are not idle. Life works by
certain divine contagion. Facilities, opportunities, rules, standards, tra-
ditions— all are good ; but life itself is better, and a working faculty will
make a working school. That is the central fact of student life at Har-
vard ; this is a working school. Space forbids any attempt to show here
the courses of study, or to insert examination papers fitted to show what
advanced students are expected to do. The chief fact is that the stand-
ards are all the time advancing, while methods are improved and facilities
are increased. The library statistics form one index to show student
work. Here are over 300,000 volumes and a third as many pamphlets
which are here for use. They are not kept like the old lady's umbrella,
which she boasted she had had for twenty-seven years, " and it's never
been wet yet." Some libraries are kept like that. But here they wish to
see books worn out, so far as honest use will wear them. New atlases,
dictionaries, encyclopedias, speedily grow ragged, and the bookbinder has
a tremendous bill every month.
A new help to student-work is for a professor to gather out of the
whole library such books (no matter how many) as he wishes his classes
especially to study. These are put in an alcove under his name ; his
pupils have access to them all day, and take them over-night, returning
them next morning.
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6.
-35
522 NOTES FROM HARVARD COLLEGE
This plan is new, but it grows in favor. In 1880, thirty-five teachers
thus reserved 3.330 books. In 1886, fifty-six teachers reserved 5,840. All
books lent out numbered, in 1880,41,986; in 1886,60,195. This rate of
increase greatly outruns that of the number of students. It speaks of an
increasing industry and productiveness. And the best thing about the
intellectual life here is that it is hopeful and not timid — it looks forward.
Near Memorial Hall was recently set a charming statue of John Har-
vard. The young clergyman sits in his chair, his pulpit robe thrown around
him, his book open on his knee, his thin face and tranquil, hopeful eyes
turned toward the western sky. He is thinking of the days that are to be.
He hears nothing of the vigorous tide of life now flowing round his chair.
He knows nothing of past success or present attainment. His face shows
no trace either of self-distrust or of self-satisfaction. But the quiet uncon-
sciousness with which his trustful hope looks toward the west is something
good to see, and is typical of the college life to-day.
THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
IT HAD NO EXISTENCE ONE HUNDRED VEARS AGO
In his History of the People of the United States, Professor McMaster
depicts in dark colors the judicial and penal system existing among us
one hundred years ago, as in strong contrast with the milder and hu-
maner features of society at the present day. It is fortunate for him
that he will close his fifth volume with i860, or with the beginning of
the late civil war, and will not have to tarnish his pages and falsify his
deduction by a recital of the unparalleled cruelties of Andersonville, Belle
Isle, and Libby Prison, or of the penitentiary convict system of Georgia,
compared with which " Newgate in Connecticut" was a comfortable home
or an " industrial school."
As an extreme symbol of the times he says, with great emphasis, " the
treadmill was always going (V ol. I., p. 100). To illustrate the nature of this
machine in use, he says that " to turn the crank of a spinning-frame by
hand was worse than a treadmill " — a frank admission in favor of the
latter (Vol. II., p. 164).
The unsophisticated reader may well inquire what this instrument is,
and whether it was then or is now in use as a means of punishment and
reformatory discipline. He has seen the inclined-plane machine for saw-
ing wood, threshing grain, and moving ferry-boats by horse-power ; and
in the dairy regions a sheep or a dog on the wheel for hours, churning the
milk for butter ; but sees not where the moral element comes in. The dog,
however, at every recurring period of work, is painfully and almost hu-
manly conscious, and reluctant to begin his task. The principle was very
early applied in this country and brought from Europe. The first patroon,
Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, in 1646, built a corn-mill, moved by two horses, for
five hundred florins, with Peter Cornelisz, on equal terms, and others are men-
tioned at the same time.* " It is also shown in a clever woodcut of a corn-
mill worked in the same way, in the Theatrum Mack. Novum, by A. G. Boek-
ler, Nuremberg, 1662, fob, and other cuts of mills worked by treading inside
the periphery of a wheel, as a kitchen spit was formerly turned by a dog,
as a squirrel in his cage." f It seems to be an industrial machine only.
The reader is left without note or comment, and, as in many other in-
* Munsell's Albany, Vol. I., p. 35. f Notes and Queries, Ap. 25, 1S57, p. 336.
524 THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
stances, with no reference ; and he sets out to discover this nondescript
emblem of the cruelty of the people of 1783. He examines the contem-
poraneous and succeeding authorities, as to the customs of society in this
department. The name is not found in any vocabulary of the latter part
of the last century, or the first part of this. He finds, under " Tread-
mill." in Webster s Unabridged, a figure of the machine, but the mechanism
and the human power working it suggest the doubt if, with all the evi-
dence to the contrary in the accompanying pages as to the state of the
arts, the idea of using it as a punitive machine could have existed in this
country a hundred years ago. He inquires among jurists, and an eminent
chief- justice in this city relates that his father took him, a lad of eight years,
in 1823, to see a treadmill in one of the city prisons, and he describes its
operation. The writer recalls a description of the same by his father, a
country merchant in the interior of this state, on returning from the city
after seeing it in operation, and bringing a print of it. Dr. E. E. Wines
says : "The treadmill has no place in the prisons of the United States." *
Every one knows this was true when he wrote, and it was superfluous to
mention it, as its memory has faded and its name nearly vanished for
halt a century. If Dr. Wines means that it was never in use here, there
is no question that he is wrong. Mr. C. L. Brace incorrectly states that "as
far back as in 1822 the punishment of the treadmill had been given up
in Xew York state as barbarous." f Mr. Michael Cassidy, warden of the
penitentiary in Philadelphia, writes, May 3, 1884: " In reply to your in-
quiries I will state that there never was, in the history of this institution, a
treadmill or anything that could be mistaken for one."
Mr. Gideon Haynes, ex-warden of Old State Prison, Charlestown,
Massachusetts, writes, May 2,1884: "In 1822 an effort was made to in-
troduce the treadmill into the prison. The warden was directed to ob-
tain information from New York in regard to it. The power was applied
to the grinding of corn, but it having been ascertained that the' men upon
an average could not grind over one bushel per day (per man), the project
was deemed too expensive, and was dropped. It has never been used in
this state."
The New York Gazette, Wednesday, January 8, 1823, records that "In
the Senate of Massachusetts, on Tuesday last, Mr. Rotch moved for a com-
mittee to obtain a model of the stepping or treading mill now in operation,
as at present in use in the city of New York. Colonel Perkins was the
committee." The idea was thus fully before the people of Massachusetts
* State Prisons in the United States.
\ The First Century of the Republic. 1876. Art. " Humanitarian Progress," p. 462.
THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
525
in l822-'23, and was discarded. Mr. J. E. Chamberlain, warden of the Con-
necticut State Prison, writes, March 26, 1886: " We have no record of there-
being a treadmill in the old prison in Simsbury, the Connecticut Newgate.
The history of that prison makes no mention of such an instrument oi tor-
ture." In Connecticut, however, the machine was adopted. At Newgate "a
building for a treadmill was erected about the year 1824, for the purpose of
grinding corn for the prisoners. Of all labor required of the prisoners,
the treadmill was the worst."* An article on " Newgate Prison," in the
Magazine of American History, Vol. XV., p. 334, says: "The old tread mi 11
is silent! " though still remaining there.
The use of this ceased, doubtless, on or before the removal to the new-
state prison at Wethersfield, in 1827, as we find no further mention of it.
From the uniform trend of these notices to New York, search was made
in several histories of the city, with no satisfactory result. On visiting
Bellevue, to get information of Warden O'Rourke, he politely directed me,
through an attendant, to a respectable inmate, " who, if any one, could
serve me." His memory did not reach back to 1783, but only to l822-'24,
and his intelligence aided me greatly, as he informed me of a book called
The History of the Treadmill, by James Hardie, the gate-keeper, New York,
1824. On inquiry at several libraries the book was found to be rare,
and finally, in that invaluable repository of local history, The New York
Historical Society Library, the treasure, a small, thin quarto, was pro-
duced. The history was quite complete as to the men who benevolently
instituted it, hoping thereby to ameliorate the condition of a certain
class of mild criminality and to recover them to virtue, as well as to the
diminution of the cost of the corrective process, as to the temporary suc-
cess of the scheme, through the fear of recommitment, and, finally, as
to its abandonment from the conviction that the punishment was too
severe, even cruel.
Having located the treadmill and found it a modern machine for pun-
ishment, inquiry was made as to its origin. A writer in Notes and Queries —
quoting from Chesterton's Revelations of Prison Life — gives the follow-
ing narration : The inventor was an engineer, Mr. (and Sir) William Cubitt,
of Ipswich, England. " All who may be acquainted with the county
jail of Suffolk at Bury St. Edmunds, or, rather, such as it was twenty years
and upwards ago, must be aware of the unsightly feature then exhibited
(after passing through the main entrance) of mere open iron fences, sepa-
rating yards occupied by prisoners from the passage trod by incoming
visitors. The inmates were seen lounging idly about in surly groups. A
* Phelps, R. H. A History of Newgate at Connecticut, p. 90.
;20
THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
magistrate, meeting Mr. Cubitt in this passage, said: 'I wish to God, Mr.
Cubitt, you would suggest to us some mode of employing these fellows.
Could not something like a wheel become available?' An instantaneous
idea flashed through the mind of Mr. Cubitt, who whispered to himself,
' The wheel elongated ; ' and merely saying to his interrogator, ' Something
has struck me which may prove worthy of further investigation, and per-
haps you may hear from me on the subject,' took his leave. After-
reflection enabled Mr. Cubitt to fashion all the mechanical requirements
into a practical form, and by such a casual incident did the treadmill start
into existence in 1817 or 1818, and soon came into general adoption in the
prisons of the country as a type of hard labor."* According to the
" Fifth Report of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline "
in Great Britain it was in use in forty-four places, and recommittals were
reduced one-half.
Something very like this was seen at Spandau, nine miles west of Ber-
lin, Prussia, in a prison, April 11, 1828, by Dr. Charles Hodge of Prince-
ton. New jersey, who says: "Those condemned to hard labor turn the
great wheel which sets the machinery in motion for the manufacture of
cotton and wool."f We next inquire when and how it was introduced into
America. Those well-known philanthropic " Friends," Isaac Collins and
Stephen Grellet, recommended its adoption to Mayor Stephen Allen of
New York, who reported in favor of its adoption, February 11, 1822. The
common council authorized its construction at Bellevue. Friend Thomas
Eddy made the plans, and on the 5th of August the mayor reported that
" one wheel was completed, "J and on the 28th of October, " that the build-
ing and machinery had been completed on the 7th of September ; and on
the 23d of September it was in full operation."
The house was of stone, sixty by thirty feet, two stories and a garret.
Each story was divided by a strong wall into two rooms. There were four
wheels, two below, where the men were, and two above, for women, next
the penitentiary. In the other side, below, were the bolting-machine and
other conveniences for receiving the flour or meal ; and above, over this,
were the mill-stones, hopper, and screen, and the granary in the garret.
The shaft and wheel were of iron ; the steps of boards seven and one-half
inches high and twenty-four feet long; the wheel of the same length and
fifteen and one-half feet round. Eight to sixteen prisoners were on the
machine at once, who passed on these endless stairs from left to right eight
* N. & Q., III., pp. 236, 290, 439.— 2d Series, S. N. 67. Apr. 11, 1857.
f Life of Dr. C. I lodge, p. 183.
\ Minutes Com. Council, Vol. XL VI.
THE TREADMILL IX AMERICA 527
minutes on and four off, and twenty minutes rest in an hour. Forty to
fifty bushels of corn and rye, for the almshouse, penitentiary, and bridewell,
were ground daily.
The advantages of the machine were: 1. No time was required to learn
the working of it. 2. Prisoners cannot shirk their work, for all must work
in proportion to their weight. 3. Instead of water, steam, or wind, animal
power is used. 4. Punishment is constant and suffering severe ; its monoto-
nous steadiness constitutes its terror, and breaks down the obstinate crim-
inal spirit. Before, there were fifteen or twenty vagrants every morning at
the police ; some sent to the penitentiary, and again and again recom-
mitted ; since, the magistrate says: " In the short time it has been in full
operation and generally known, it has saved the annual committal of thou-
sands of vagrants." The cost of grinding the grain previously averaged
$1,900 annually — now free of cost. The cost of the mill was $3,050.09 —
the appropriation $3,000. The previous cost of working the convicts, out
of the prison, was $7,000 annually.
Here, then, was a perfect machine, a triumph of the material over the
spiritual, which promised great satisfaction to the promoters of the ex-
periment. The same advantageous results had been observed in Eng-
land, and it was heralded widely as a great advance in that most difficult
problem of society, ''prison discipline." Information was sought so ear-
nestly that "the mayor, January 20, 1823, requests leave to print one hun-
dred copies of the plan and discipline of the stepping-mill, for giving away.
on numerous applications. "* Time and experience developed some results
that excited anxiety in some minds whether all was right. The benevo-
lent Thomas Eddy studied carefully the operation of his device, and, in
1823, wrote to the mayor "about the present defects in the mode of em-
ploying convicts on the treadmill and the adequate remedy." As might
be expected, uneasiness had also arisen in England, and serious objections
to it are found in their prison reports of 1823. In 1824 J. M. Goff, in Eng-
land, wrote a pamphlet " On the Mischiefs Incident to the Tread Wheel."
All these were ominous. The novelty of the machine and the wide circula-
tion of representations of it in full operation greatly stimulated the curiosity
of the public, and though the Bellevue + of that day was faraway, the scene
attracted many visitors. " Mr. A. Burtis, the superintendent of the tread-
mill, reported on the great number of visitors, which was referred to the
police committee." This committee reported, August 30, " that no per-
son be allowed to visit the treadmill without permission of the mayor, the
* Min. Com. Council, Vol. XLVIL, p. 92.
f At the foot of East 26th Street, as now.
528 THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
recorder, or the commissioners of the almshouse," and, " September 27,
1824, permits were ordered printed in blank.''
This was not an imaginary evil — a mere inconvenience to the keepers.
It had become a great nuisance to them and to the prisoners, who still had
some rights, and, if not entirely stopped, it needed to be regulated, for the
visiting had become a public amusement. " The average number daily
was five hundred, and in the last Easter and Whitsunday week there were
over one thousand daily." '* It was not true, as Holmes wrote in his
" Treadmill Song,"
"They've built us up a noble wall
To keep the vulgar out,''
but the reverse. Time went on, and the defects referred to by Friend Eddy
and others did not disappear — they became chronic ; they were inherent,
and that by an unchangeable law of the Creator when he made man, and
became too serious to be ignored by the municipal authorities. In the
Common Council, October 30, 1826, "Mr. Van Wyck presented a resolu-
tion— the Police Commissioners to inquire and report concerning the dis-
continuing the use of the treadmill in certain cases, and till a report is
made, no female to be placed on the treadmill under any pretense whatever.'^
Whether Mr. Van Wyck was more intelligent or courageous or humane
than his associates, or not, his resolution indicates his belief in nn fait ac-
compli, and while offering to the commissioners an official tribute and time
for deliberate action, he secured his object at once — absolute, immediate
prohibition, and he should ever be held in grateful remembrance.
" The treadmill was in operation from the 23d of September, 1822, till
November, 1824, when it was necessarily suspended in consequence of
many being sick of a malignant disease called the typhus, or jail, fever,
which had raged among the prisoners, and to which numbers of them fell
victims, as also Dr. Wm. L. Belden and three of the keepers.";};
How long it survived after the motion of Mr. Van Wyck no record has
been found. Failing to reaHze the expectations of its early advocates and
of the public, it probably went into disuse, " unhonored and unsung,"
and it was so buried and forgotten that for nearly half a century it has
been rarely mentioned, and would have remained so but for this recent
resuscitation by Professor McMaster. It may safely be assumed that Dr.
Holmes and Professor McMaster never saw a treadmill in America. The
former entered Harvard College in 1825, and graduated in 1829, and
*Hardie, p. 37. f Min. Com. Council, Vol. LIX., p. 15.
X Hardie's Picture of New York, p. 192.
THE TREADMILL IN AMERICA
529
during the next seven years was studying Law and medicine and writing
poetry. The treadmill had not been adopted in Massachusetts, and the
doctor may not have visited his Dutch relatives m New Vork, the Wen-
dells. The stories of the time rather amused him than awakened his sym-
pathy. With unsparing- pen he impaled his weakest victim with :
" Wake up, wake up, my duck-legged man,
And stir your solid pegs,"
and the illusions of the rollicking fellows were thus set forth by one of
them ;
" If ever they shall turn me out,
When I have better grown,
Now, hang me, but I mean to have
A treadmill of my own !
" Hark ! fellows, there's the supper bell !
And -now our work is done ;
It's pretty sport, suppose we take
A round or two for fun."
If the poet, with the generous sympathies of his later life, could have
witnessed the suffering of the representatives of " that sisterhood for which
he is ever ready to enter the lists " with glove and lance, his clarion words
would have been heard, and instead of that soulless " Treadmill Song " he
would have given a stirring idyl, like Hood's " Song of the Shirt," which
would have secured a permanent place in literature.
Professor McMaster had not then begun to observe the course of
human affairs, and was obviously unacquainted with Holmes's song. To
him the tradition of the treadmill comes down the ages, with the accu-
mulated force of a century, an emblem of the barbarism of the people of
1783 ; but with an anachronism of more than a third of a century — which
in history is inexcusable. A historian runs serious risk when he seizes
upon a transient experiment in an unknown science, in the present century,
and charges it over to the discredit of the previous century. The premises
and the conclusions are alike unfortunate and misleading. It has been
well said by a distinguished historical writer that " in determining what
kind of men our fathers were we are to compare their laws, not with ours,
but with the laws they renounced " [Dr. Leonard Bacon). The same is
true of their manners and customs and their religious life.
(
grfu^j /^£4^&$rA>*^£>
New York City, November, 1887.
MINOR TOPICS
THE PROTOTYPE OF " LEATHER-STOCKING "
Editor of Magazine of American History :
From the discussion pro and con, in late numbers of your magazine, regarding
the identity of a prominent character in one of Mr. Fenimore Cooper's novels, I
am reminded of another competitor, not, however, representing the same personage
referred to, as portrayed in the Spy. Probably a more original pattern of a
sort of man once to be found outside the borders of the settlements, within the
dense shadows of an American wilderness, but scarce elsewhere, was the type of the
genuine, natural, and famous Leather-stocking. Mr. Cooper, with even his masterly
talents, could not have written his "Leather-stocking Tales " in the city of Lon-
don or Paris or New York, without his personal experience gained in a residence
on the frontier at an early period, by the groves of Cooperstown, it is likely, or
" Where the wild Oswego spreads her forests round."
In Europe may be found hermits perhaps, as well as bandits, but no Leather-
stockings. While Mr. Cooper claimed that " rigid adhesion to truth, an indis-
pensable requisite in history and travels, destroys the charm of fiction," he yet
allowed that " there was a constant temptation to delineate that which he had
known, rather than that which he might have imagined."
I think so ; and if several years' sojourn at Oswego, on Lake Ontario, by Mr.
Cooper, in the early part of the present century, gained for him impressions of
frontier life, he of necessity could scarce fail to picture them to some extent in
his stories relating to lake and land. More than fifty years ago it was told to the
writer of this paper (when he went to Oswego to live) that not a few things in Mr.
Cooper's tales were apparently borrowed from facts familiar to the old residents
there.
So, the captain of the Scud, whose name in the Pathfinder was " Jasper
Eau Douce," was a character quite confidently believed to have been in a
manner drawn from the name and skill of a Lake Ontario skipper, then also
residing at the port and hamlet (at the same time as Mr. Cooper, in 1809), whose
name was William Eadus. This Captain William Eadus was born, I think, in
1 77 1, but where I have not learned. He was early on the lakes, and officiated as
master certainly as far back as 1797, when he was employed by the government to
transport a company of United States soldiers from Oswego to Fort Niagara.
For that purpose he chartered a Canadian craft, there being no vessel owned at
that time on the American side of Lake Ontario. The voyage proved to be a
MINOR TOPICS 531
rather rough one, for, after nearly reaching Niagara, the vessel was driven back
and obliged to seek shelter in Kingston harbor. Afterward he had command of
the schooner Fair American, one of the earliest American-built (raft on the
lake. He subsequently owned and sailed the schooner Island Packet, which was
captured by the British, I think at Brockville, Canada, and burned, June, [812.
In spring of 18 13 Captain Eadus commanded the schooner Mary, yet I believe he
retired from the lake not long after the close of the war with Britain. He resided
at Sodus after about 181 1, when his house was burnt in a raid of the enemy upon
the village in the summer of 1813. He was living in 1847, at the age of seventy-
six.
It was also believed and told that Leather-stocking of the book had his coun-
terpart in a well-known and successful woodsman and trapper of the region,
whose name was Vickory. Yet he was not the individual, nor were the forests of
Oswego the locality, which I set out to present : but the man to be named is, as I
suppose, an almost unheard-of representative, and the locality, according to the
evidence, was that in the vicinity of Mr. Cooper's earlier home of Cooperstown.
From the " Annals of Hoosick," by Hon. L. Chandler Ball, written some years
since, and printed in the columns of a weekly newspaper, I give in substance
briefly the chapter detailing the facts regarding the chief original, as believed, of
Leather-stocking. Nathaniel Shipman, in one of the years between the close of
the French War and the American Revolution, came with his family, but from
whence is not known, and built his cabin on the bank of the Walloomsack, in the
northeastern part of the town of Hoosick, New York, not far from the fields
which a few years later were made historic by the battle of Bennington, so-called,
which occurred in the present town of Hoosick.
Mr. Shipman could be called singular and retiring, talked little of himself, and
so it is not learned who were his parents, nor where nor when he was born. But
he was known and may be called distinguished as a hunter and trapper, and his
days were mostly passed along the mountain streams which fed the Walloomsack,
or in the thick woods which covered a great part of the region about. Mr. Ship-
man was a friend and associate of the few Indians who were still to be seen in the
neighborhood, though but a handful, so to speak, of the once numerous and
powerful Mohicans. This friendship had existed from the time they fought
together against the French. It is told also that Mr. Shipman had a strong
attachment for an officer of the British forces, which friendship also began during
the war named. Possibly the fond regard for the officer may have influenced Mr.
Shipman's sentiments relating to the great question then being asked and fought
to decide, whether freedom or the monarch over the sea should be master. At
any rate, the trapper chose to remain neutral, whereupon some of his impetuous
neighbors called him a Tory, and not that merely, but, with the rougher treatment,
he was given a coat of tar and feathers. It is not surprising, after such impolite
behavior toward an inoffensive trapper, as we suppose, that Mr. Shipman disap-
532 MINOR TOPICS
peared altogether, and nothing could be found or heard of him, though the woods
were extensively searched. As the years passed by with no tidings, he was classed
as one among the dead.
A daughter of Mr. Shipman had married Mr. John Ryan, a native of Dutchess
County, New York, a man of good natural abilities and some education, who, while
vet quite a young man, had been appointed land agent for the heirs of Jacobus
Van Cortlandt of New York, one of the original proprietors of " Hoseck Patent,"
and the duties attending said office led to his settlement in the township. Mr.
Ryan, when in Albany, probably while member of the Assembly, which position
he held in 1803 and several years succeeding, became acquainted with Judge
Cooper of Otsego County, who told him of his experience in opening and settling
his large land estate there. Among other things, he spoke of an old white man
that, in company with an Indian, lived in a hut or cave on the border of Otsego
Lake, and who subsisted by hunting and fishing. The white man was represented
as a famous hunter and a warrior in the old French War when the states were
colonies, a man of simple manners and eccentric habits, and, like his Indian com-
panion, a true son of the forest. These statements of Judge Cooper were talked
of on Mr. Ryan's return to his home, and Mrs. Ryan was strongly impressed to
believe that the white hunter was none other than her long-absent father. To
satisfy the newly awakened interest, a journey to Cooperstown was taken by Mr.
Ryan, and, reaching the cabin of the hunter, he found confirmation of Mrs. Ryan's
hopeful suggestion. Earnestly persuaded by Mr. Ryan, the old man consented to
return with his son-in-law to his home, where he was comfortably provided for.
Once, however, his long and strong habit forced him again to take to the woods;
but he was aged, and therefore unfit for the seclusion to which his ruling passion
led him. After much search he was found, at beginning of a winter, on the east
side of the Green Mountains, occupying a cave, well supplied, however, with bears'
meat and the flesh of other animals. He refused to return to his friends then, but
promised to visit them in the spring, which he did, and continued to live in Mr.
Ryan's family until his death, about 1809.
It is urged that it was natural that Mr. Shipman, after the harsh treatment
referred to, should retire with his Indian friend to the vicinity of Otsego Lake.
Though a i(^w of the Mohican Indians remained in Hoosick and Schaghticoke, the
greater number were at the forks of the Susquehanna and among the hills of
Otsego. Some other particulars may be named to confirm Mr. Shipman's identity
with Leather -stocking. The name of Mr. Shipman's favorite dog was " Hector,"
so was that of Leather-stocking. Shipman's rifle had a barrel of uncommon length ;
such also was a characteristic of that of Leather-stocking.
Mr. Azariah Eddy, of Hoosick, being in the city of New York, was shown
by a friend a copy of the Pioneers, then recently published, which it was under-
stood had been received from the author. In the volume, upon one of the fly-
leaves, were the names of several prominent characters in the book, with names op-
MINOR Tones
533
posite, understood to have been the original persons from whom said characters
were more or less copied. Against the name of " Leather-stocking" was that of
Nathaniel Shipman. Whether the owner of the book was formerly from Otsego,
and was the one who penciled the names on the fly-leaf, or if it was some other,
we are not advised. Mr. Eddy, finding the volume an interesting one, and having
some knowledge of Mr. Shipman, bought a copy to show to his friends in tin-
country. Reading to Mr and Mrs. Ryan parts of the volume of sayings b)
Leather-stocking, he was frequently interrupted by the exclamation, "That was
Father Shipman ! "
Mr. Ball said his article, of which the above is a summary, was principally from
statements by Dr. Benjamin Walworth, brother of the late Chancellor Walworth,
of Fredonia, New York, who had known Mr. Shipman, and from Mr. Eddy,
who had been employed by Mr. Ryan to file his numerous letters and papers,
and who learned from him much regarding Mr. Shipman's life ; Mr. Eddy was
also executor of Mr. Ryan's estate after his death, in 1827.
The undersigned, the writer of this communication, who passed much of his
boyhood and youth in the village of Hoosick Falls, well remembers Dr. Benja-
min Walworth before he removed to Chautauqua County more than sixty-five
years ago. I recall him to mind as an agreeable gentleman whose professional
services were sometimes availed of at my father's. Captain Azariah Eddy was a
merchant in the village, and I was a clerk in his store in 1830 ; he was an active,
prompt, and reliable business man, who sustained the name of a good citizen and
man of integrity. He is in his eighty-sixth year, in tolerable health, excepting par-
tial blindness, and now resides with a daughter in Chicago. Hon. John Ryan is
fresh in my recollection as a plain, sensible, old gentleman, of good reputation
among his neighbors ; he was buried by the side of his three wives, in the grave-
yard at the rear of the old meeting-house of the village. In that graveyard also
were deposited the remains of the old hunter, Nathaniel Shipman.
Henry H. Hurlbut
Chicago, Illinois.
BABY GRACE
THE CHRISTMAS SUMMONS
She was five, this tiny maiden, and her name was Baby Grace,
But you'd never thought her half as old, judging by her face,
As she stood fanning her mamma, on that night in cold December —
Last Christmas night, which well-housed children all so well remember.
It was in a dismal attic, and her dear mamma was dying.
While Grace with childish prattle to cheer her had been trying ;
" It will be so nice up there, where God and angels live," she said,
" And you will wear a clean white frock, and a gold thing on your head.
534 MINOR TOPICS
" Oh, send for me to come, mamma, so quickly as ever was !
'Cause Heaven's full of toy-shops, built by good old Santa Claus,
With lors of dolls of every kind — I've wanted one all day ;
Please, won't you dress a few for me, while 1 am on the way ?
" But why are you so still, mamma ? Shall I fan you any more ?
It chills me so, I guess the wind is coming through the door !
Oh, speak to me, mamma ! " — Alas ! the soul its flight had taken,
Baby Grace was all alone ; her mamma would never waken.
" Oh, deary me, I've fanned her froze ! I'll run and bring some firer
They have it in the mission school where I went with Mamie Dyer."
And the little maiden started, and the creaking stairs ran down,
And out into the snow-storm to the centre of the town.
The stars were shut behind the clouds, yet she knew the way to go,
And she found the mission chapel in the midst of drifts of snow ;
She saw a Christmas-tree, through the windows with light ablaze,
And she heard the children singing their Christmas hymns of praise*
" It must be Heaven itself come down to take my mamma dear,
I am so tired and cold, good Jesus, please do not leave me here ;
I want to go with mamma," she cried in a plaintive tone,
"Where there are Christmas-trees, and playthings, and where warm fires burn.
Ah ! the steps with ice were covered, and freezing her every limb,
And the fierce blast numbed her senses, and her sight grew strangely dim,
She struggled hard to reach the door, but backward slipping, fell,
Moaning feebly, " Please, may I go with mamma, where the angels dwell ? "
The Christmas service ended, and a troop of girls and boys
Came rushing from the chapel, happy, with books and toys,
To find a pale, fair child, half clad, and frozen by the gate :
Sweet Baby Grace, for her mamma's summons, had not long to wait.
Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, in The Christmas Basket
MINOR TOPICS
CHRISTMAS
Splendors on splendors rise,
Until the broad-domed skies
Are all aglow.
Light leaps from cast to west,
Where the huge arches nest,
One bright, all-glorious guest,
Above, below.
Throughout the vast profound
Great peals of joy resound,
And love supreme ;
Such music as our earth
Ne'er, in all time, gave birth —
Surpassing far, in worth,
Man's richest theme.
Now floods of glory fall —
A wondrous spell on all,
For Christ is born.
In song of rapturous praise
The angels, in amaze,
Welcome this best of days,
This matchless morn.
Wide space cannot contain,
Nor sounds express the strain,
So vast, so grand.
God gives to man his Son,
Makes heaven and earth as one ;
For the long strife is done
At Love's command.
Thrills through the ages dim,
This song that tells of Him,
And ever will,
While time and space abide ;
Our Christ and his fair bride,
The church for whom he died,
And liveth still.
535
Gilbert Nash
Weymouth, Massachusetts.
ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS
Letter concerning Aaron Burr, from Hon. Jeremiah Nelson to Dr. Cutler.
Mr. Nelson succeeded Dr. Cutler as a Member of Congress in 1804.
[Contributed by Mr. E. C. Dawes, Cincinnati, Ohio.]
Washington 18. Feb. 1807.
Dear Sir,
Letters are here received from Natchez, Mississippi Territory, informing that
Col. Burr arrived there on the 18th Jan?, having previously and when on the
opposite side of the river agreed by written Articles of stipulation, with Mr. Mead
acting Governor of said Territory to submit himself to the Civil Authority. — Burr
states that lie contemplated no project hostile to the interests of his Country,
appears to be indignant at measures adopted by Gen! Wilkinson, of whose guilt he
says he has unquestionable evidence, and in case of any accident happening to him
(Burr) he says, Proofs to damn Wilkinson, will be found in his Port Folio now in
possession of his Daughter in South Carolina. He says the letter which Gen!
Wilkinson pretends to have had from him was written by the Marquis De Cara
Yrugo, between whom and W. — an intrigue has been carrying on.
It is stated that Burr had nothing with him resembling a military force. Infor-
mation is also received from New Orleans, stating that Gen! Adair arrived there
on the 14th Jan? — attended by his servant, that Gen! Wilkinson ordered the drums
to beat, called out the militia, and sent a Colonel with 100 men to arrest Adair,
who is said to be on his way to this city under a military escort. A Mr. Wortman,
Judge of the Court at New Orleans, is also arrested and some others. The Judge
adjourned the Court without day, declaring that the Military had put down the
Civil Authority in that District.
From the accounts from both the above named places it would seem that all
was confusion there ; and by the information contained in several letters, it appears
that the current of public opinion, in both places, was setting strongly against
Gen! Wilkinson, and that there appeared a greater desire to find him guilty than
any other man.
The House of Representatives have been for the two last days engaged in the
consideration of a Resolution submitted by Mr. Broom, for making inquiry into the
necessity of making further provision by law for securing the Writ of habeus
Corpus to persons in custody, under, or by color, of the Authority of the U. States.
This subject is still unfinished, and no business of consequence will, I presume, be
taken up untill a decision has been had upon the subject mentioned.
I am Sir, respectfully
your mo. Obb Ser.
Jere. Nelson
P. S. Dispatches from our Minister at Paris have not yet been received.
SOCIETIES
53;
SOCIETIES
NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY
At the stated meeting, October 4, the
librarian reported numerous additions to
the collections. George S. Conover, of
Geneva, New York, and Gouverneur
Tillotson, of this city, were elected mem-
bers. The Rev. Dr. Robert Collyer read
a valuable and delightful paper on " The
Fairfaxes of England and America."
He narrated the rise of that once pow-
erful family, and its influence upon the
political fortunes of England during the
most eventful period of that country's
annals, introducing many new and valu-
able facts, charming legends, and gossipy
anecdotes, derived by him in his own
birthplace and home of his boyhood,
near the principal seat of the family, in
Yorkshire. The romantic career and pe-
culiar character of the hospitable lord
of Greenway Court were admirably de-
picted, and the subsequent history of
the family in America was brought
down to that of the present baron and
representative of the family, Dr. Fairfax,
of Baltimore.
At the November meeting, Mrs.
Blanche L. Andrews, Richard H. Ben-
son, Robert Benson, J. Edgar Leay-
craft, William B. Ogden, Theodore M.
Banta, Maurice Sternbach, and James
Wilkinson were constituted members.
Many donations were reported, includ-
ing an important addition, made by John
W. Taylor, Esq., of Minnesota, to the
society's collection of manuscript mate-
rials for the history of our nation, con-
sisting of the papers of his father, the
late Hon. John W. Taylor, M. C. 1813-
21, and speaker of the United States
Vol. XVIII.— No. 6._36
House of Representatives during the
stirring period of the Missouri Compro-
mise. Mrs. Sarah R. Osgood, of Flush-
ing, New York, presented an admirable
portrait of the Hon. Mrs. Norton, ol
England, painted from life in [839, by
the husband of the donor, the late S im-
uel S. Osgood, of this city. The paper
of the evening, on " Charles Bro< kden
Brown : Novelist and Man of Letters,"
was contributed by Edward I. Steven-
son, who demonstrated in a very careful
and able analysis the power and literary
merit contained in the principal works
of that morbid but original genius, whose
novels were about the first, historically,
of imaginative prose writings in America,
worthy of the name. The eighty-third
anniversary of the society was celebrated
in its hall, November 15, and an able ad-
dress on "The Framing of the Federal
Constitution," delivered by the president
of the society, Hon. John A. King.
Rhode island historical society —
The autumn and winter season of this
society was auspiciously opened on the
evening of November 1, at the cabinet,
President Gammell in the chair. The
paper of the evening was by Professor
F. B. Andrews, of Brown University, its
subject, the " Federal Convention of
1787." The attendance was very large,
and the scholarly and exhaustive produc-
tion commanded intense interest. At
the close of the reading, words of ap-
proval of the paper and interesting re-
marks suggested by it were made by
President Gammell, and Isaac H. South-
wick, Jr., and Stephen H. Arnold, Esq.
38
XOTE-S
NOTES
A YANKEE THANKSGIVING NINETY-
FIVE years ago — From the Norwich
Weekly Register, of November, 1792,
Messrs. Bushnell <$: Hubbard. "Thanks-
giving Day may be a good institution,
but it is more like the day of destruction
than any other day. It may not be un-
amusing to take a peep at the transac-
tions and expense of the whole week, and
see what real good we derive from this
day, and it requires no uncommon intel-
lects to ken the deeds done by 685,000
people, for the same tragi-comical scenes
are acting in every family in this state
[Conn.], Rhode Island, and Massachu-
setts.
Monday was washing day. Tuesday
a day of darkness and despair among the
pigs, turkies, geese, hens, ducks, and
pigeons. To-day is a day of eating and
drinking. True it is, a few attend divine
service, but just enough, however, to say
we — the principal business of the day
being to gormandize. Every son and
daughter, and son-in-law and daughter-
in-law, with the whole litter of grand-
children, this day make the annual visit
to the old cupboard. To-morrow is a
day for apprentices and servants — a day
of freedom and merriment to every bond-
man and every bondwoman. Saturday
' omes the physician's day, and tartar
emetic by wholesale and retail. And as
'tis a good practice to settle every Sat-
urday night, we may as well close the
account with the week.
Allowing eight persons to a family,
there are in this state [Conn.], Rhode
Island, and Massachusetts 85,694 fam-
ilies—consequently, upon a moderate
calculation, these three states must make
Thanksgiving day Dr. to about
85,694 mugs of flip,
40,000 plumb puddings,
85,694 turkies or geese,
128,541 chicken pies,
514,164 minced pies, \ Extra.
514,164 apple pies,
257,082 rice or potatoe pies,
514,164 tarts,
1,028,328 pumpkin pies, J
besides wine, nuts, and apples. The ex-
act amount of the whole is easier cal-
culated by a married man than by your
humble servant, a batchelor."
Petersfield
King aaron — An anecdote — " From
the accounts which have reached this
country, it would appear," says Cobbett,
" that Mr. Aaron Burr, who is a man of
great ambition, and of talents and cour-
age equal thereto, had formed a scheme
for separating the western from the
eastern part of that immense country
called the United States, and to erect a
kingly government in the western part,
of which he himself intended to be king.
In this project, viewing it with a mere
philosophical eye, I see nothing more
objectionable than the novel circum-
stance of there being a king of the name
of Aaron." Contributor
A paris Christmas — On Christmas,
Sunday, December 25, the 98th day
of the siege, I made the following entry
in my diary : " Never has a sadder
Christmas dawned on any city. Cold,
hunger, agony, grief, and despair sit en-
throned in every habitation of Paris. It
is the coldest day of the season and the
QUERIES
fuel is very short, and the government
has had to take hold of that question.
The magnificent shade trees, that have
for ages adorned the avenues of this city,
are all likeiy to go in the vain struggle
to save France So says the Journal
Officiel of this morning. The sufferings
of the past' week exceed by far anything
we have seen. There is scarcely any
meat but horse meat, and the govern-
ment is now rationing. It carries out its
work with impartiality. The omnibus
horse, the cab horse, the work horse, and
the fancy horse, all go alike in the morn-
ing procession to the butcher shop ; the
magnificent blooded steed of the Roths-
childs by the side of the old plug of the
cabman. Fresh beef, mutton, and pork
are now out of the question. A little
poultry yet remains, at fabulous ]>n
— Recollections <>/ </ Minister /<> I >
1869-77, by Hon. E. B. SVashburne.
Till-; WAY OF I 111. WORLD.
DEATH "I LOUIS XIV.
The king lies dying in his royal bed ;
Outside the door his courtiers eagerly
Sit waiting for the message of his death,
Wishing it soon may be.
And as the last sigh flutters from hi- lip-.
Out on the balcony the high chamberlain.
Breaking the wand of office, shouts aloud
The old and sad refrain,
And high his tones over the eager crowds [ring :
In the great courtyard, with strange triumph
" The king is dead ! " and, without pause or sigh,
" Long live the king ! "
J. K. Ludlum
QUERIES
Language— What king could not
speak the language of the people over
whom he ruled ? The question has
come up in our reading club, and we
write to the Magazine for information ?
W. D. Williams
Omaha, Nebraska.
Dynasty — Will some one of your
readers tell me what is the oldest dynas-
ty now reigning in Europe ?
Walters
General grant's ancestry — Will
some one give the Windsor (Connecti-
cut) ancestry of President Grant ? Did
his Grant ancestors descend from Wol-
cott, Drake, or Newberry, families ?
In the family traditions of the Par-
melee (or Parmelin) family, early settlers
of Guilford, Connecticut, it is said that
the first John Parmelee came from Ock-
ley Surrey, or the Isle of Guernsey.
The Rector of Ockley can find no trace
of such a name in his church records.
It was from there that Rev. Henry
Whitefield came with some members of
his church to settle Guilford. Probably
for this reason that place was suggested
as a possible one from which John Par-
melee could have emigrated. There is
said to be the name Parmelie in Belgium,
belonging to a titled family. It is now
desired to make inquiries in the Isle of
Guernsey. Can any one suggest the
name of a correspondent there, or give-
advice in regard to means of obtaining
information ? The writer will be glad
to hear from John Parmelee's descend-
ants, with any family history that they
can give. Address
Mrs. E. E. Salisbury
New Haven, Connecticut.
140
REPLIES
Ax old CLOCK — T. B. Winter, 53
Anderson street, Boston, has a clock
with " K. Taber " on the dial. Where
and when was this clock made. Mr.
Winter lias had this clock more than
sixty years. A. A. Folsom
Boston. Massachusetts.
Oliver — Charles Oliver, of Albany
and New York, was a merchant in 1699,
sheriff, and lieutenant of the Governor's
company, 1700. He married Margareta
Schuyler, daughter of Arent Philipse
Schuyler, baptized September 27, 1685.
He had issue — 1, Elizabeth; 2, Robert,
baptized December 7, 1707; George, and
Jane. They are named in this order in
the will of Charles Oliver, dated Octo-
ber 27, 1 7 18, and probated New York
city. His will also names his wife Mar-
garet, and appoints his brother-in-law,
Casparus Schuyler, executor. Can any
one direct me to living descendants of
either Robert or George Oliver ?
Horace Edwin Hayden
Wilkes Barre, Pa.
REPLIES
School lands [xviii. 444] — The act
was drawn up by a committee, was
passed May 20, 1785, and is a long doc-
ument, the burden of which was for sur-
veying and selling land in the territory.
These few words fully answer the
queries ; but it may be of interest to
many to have a few more points.
The " geographer " (afterward called
the surveyor-general) was to appoint
surveyors, etc. I quote from the act :
" The surveyors as they are respectively
qualified, shall proceed to divide the
said territory into townships of six miles
square, by running lines due north and
south, and others crossing these at
right angles. . . . The first line run-
ning north and south, as aforesaid, shall
begin on the Ohio river." . . . [j. e.,
the west line of Pennsylvania.] " And
the first line running east and west thall
begin at the same point and extend
throughout the whole territory."
A tier of townships north and south is
called a " range." The first land sur-
veyed under the act consisted of seven
ranges, running southward from the first
east and west line ; and, in Ohio, these
are called the " old first seven ranges."
Each township was divided into thirty-
six sections, then called " lots." These
were numbered, 1, 2, 3, etc., commenc-
ing at the southeast corner and run-
ning north to 6 ; then commencing
again with 7 by the side of 1, etc. The
method of numbering was subsequently
changed in other surveys. I quote again
from the act : " There shall be reserved
the Lot No. 16 of every township for
the maintenance of public schools within
the said township."
These school lands were not set off
at one time, nor in a single tract, as the
question seems to imply.
R. W. McFarland
Miami "University,
Oxford, Ohio.
Daniel webster [xviii. 443] — Ed-
itor of Magazine of American History :
The sentiments, said by Mr. J. A.
Stetson, Jr., to have been expressed by
REPLIES
i4i
Mr. Webster, when serenaded on the
night of June 22, 1852 — the day Gen-
eral Scott was nominated for the presi-
dency— do- not accord with his (Mr.
Webster's) speech on that occasion as
reported in the National Intelligencer the
next morning. The following is his
speech, entire, copied by me from that
paper. Minus the interjections of the
populace, it is word for word as it ap-
pears in Curtis 's Life of Webster :
" You, my fellow-citizens, with many
others, have been engaged in the per-
formance of an arduous and protracted
duty at Baltimore, in making a selection
of a fit person for the office of President
of the United States. [Cheers.] It so
happened that my name was used be-
fore that assembly. The Convention,
however, I dare say, did its best — exer-
cised its wisest and soundest discretion ;
and for my part, I have no personal feel-
ings in the matter. I remain the same
in opinion, in principle, and in position
that I have ever been. [Great cheer-
ing.]
Gentlemen, I will tell you one thing.
You may be assured there is not one
among you who will sleep better to-night
than I shall. [Laughter and cheers.]
I shall rise to-morrow morning with the
lark ; and though he is a better song-
ster than I am, yet I shall greet the
purple east as jocund, as gratified,
and as satisfied as he. [Renewed and
prolonged cheering.]
I tender you my thanks for this call
of friendly regard. I wish you well-
Beneath these brilliant stars, and in the
enjoyment of this beautiful evening, I
take my leave of you with hearty good-
wishes for your health and happiness."
The report concludes: " Three cheers
were then given for Webster, as many
more for Scott and Graham, and the
crowd dispersed." Horatio King
W VSHINGTON. 1). C.
Citizenship and suffrage [xviii.
294] — Dr. Schaff seems to have fallen
into the popular error that Articles
XIII., XIV., and XV., of the federal
Constitution secures to all male citi-
zens of the United States of the ac^e of
twenty-one years and up ward ) the right
of suffrage. This error is so generally
entertained in Europe, and even by the
educated classes, and so common
among the masses of our own people,
that one almost despairs of its correc-
tion. And yet the error is so palpable
that one naturally wonders how it ever
gained currency.
The 13th Constitutional Amendment
abolishes slavery, the 14th defines citi-
zenship, and the 15th secures impartial
{not universal) suffrage. Article XIV.
creates (and guarantees protection to) a
citizenship of the United States, which
is quite independent of state citizen-
ship ; but it does not clothe such citizen
with the privilege of the ballot. That is
still the prerogative of the state in which
he resides. Nor is suffrage essential to
"the rights and immunities" of citizen-
ship. If it were, women and minors
would have no rights and immuni-
ties of citizenship. The proposition
laid down by Justice Curtis that "the
enjoyment of the elective franchise is
not essential to citizenship," has never
been judicially set aside, or even ques-
tioned.
Nor does the second section of Article
XIV. confer suffrage upon " all male citi-
54-
REPLIES
zens of the United States twenty-one
years of age." If it did, Rhode Island
would need reconstruction ! Each state
is still competent, and exclusively compe-
tent, to fix the standard of suffrage with-
in its own territorial limits. But if, in
doing so, it should exclude from the
privilege of the ballot any " male citizens
of the United States twenty-one years of
age." it would thereby lose a proportion-
ate ratio of its representation in Con-
gress. Georgia, for instance, may, like
Rhode Island, adopt a standard of qual-
ified suffrage, and thus legally disfran-
chise many United States citizens resi-
dent therein ; but in so doing, Georgia
would lose (not as a penalty but as a
sequence) a portion of its numerical
representation in the lower House of
Congress and in the Electoral College.
Xor is this right of the individual states
to fix the qualifications of voters taken
away by the XVth article of the Con-
stitution, which provides merely that the
standard of suffrage shall be impartial.
There must be no discriminations on ac-
count of " race, color, or previous con-
dition of servitude." No other restric-
tion is imposed. Any one of the states
may exclude both white and black
vagrants from the privilege of the ballot ;
but it can exclude neither merely b
cause they are white or black.
William L. Scruggs
Atlanta, Georgia.
Erratum — On pp. 339-40 for " Gov
ernor " read "Judge.0
The first reformed dutch
church, Brooklyn [xviii. 336] — May
I be permitted to ask whether there is
not a clerical error on page 338, in the
rendering of the inscription on the Com-
munion Cup given to the church in
1684 ? The word in the last line —
" About-mael " — should be Avond-
mcel — evening meal — supper — the word
used by the Church for the Ordinance.
Your correspondent may be interested
in learning that in the possession, to-day,
of the North Dutch Church of Albany,
in North Pearl Street, the well-known
" two-steepled," there are two ancient
" beakers," one of the date of 1664 — a
day which comes as precedent to the
Great Fire of London, in King Charles's
time. The other is also of the seventeenth
century. The North Dutch is the only
public edifice remaining in Albany built
before 1800. It was dedicated in Janu-
ary, 1799. Sentinel
Aurora, New York.
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
By a certain felicity in his nature, Ralph Waldo Emerson was a non-combatant ; indif-
ferent to logic, he suppressed all the processes of his thinking-, and announced its results
in affirmations; and none of the asperities which commonly afflict the apostles of dissent
ever ruffled the serene spirit of this universal dissenter. Edwin Percy Whipple
Emerson never could be seduced into controversy. When assailed in many ways, il
only had "the effect of lighting up that queer, quizzical, inscrutable smile ; thai amused
surprise at the misconceptions of the people who attacked him, which is noticeable in all
portraits and photographs of his somewhat enigmatical countenance."
It is said that the habits contracted by genius assist the action of the mind. Cicero tells
us how his eloquence caught inspiration from constant study of the Latin and Grecian poetry.
Pompey never undertook any considerable enterprise without concentrating his thoughts
upon the character of Achilles in the first Iliad, although he acknowledged that the
enthusiasm he caught came rather from the poet than the hero. Bossuet, before com-
posing a funeral oration, always retired for several days to his study, and pored over the
pages of Homer. Alfieri usually predisposed his mind before composing by listening to
music. Leonardo da Vinci, while painting "Lisa," kept musicians constantly in waiting
to play light harmonies, which inspired the ideas within his mind of
" Tipsy dance and revelry."
Haydn would never sit down to compose except in full dress, with a diamond ring upon
his tinger, and he used the finest and costliest paper for his musical compositions. Rous-
seau confesses to the influence of rose-colored knots of ribbon tied to his portfolio, of fine
paper, brilliant ink, and gold sand.
The faculty of memory is the foundation of genius. Few, comparatively, are acquainted
with the fine machinery of the memory, which is as capable of being regulated and gov-
erned as the clock on the mantel. A celebrated writer, whose memory was treacherous,
arranged a book with three hundred and sixty-five pages, to accommodate the days of the
year, and resolved to recollect an anecdote for every page as insignificant and remote as
he was able, rejecting all anecdotes under ten years of age; and to his surprise he filled
every inch of space, although, until this experiment was tried, he had no conception of
the extent of his faculty. Wolf, the German metaphysician, relates of himself that by the
most persevering habit he resolved his algebraic problems in bed, and in darkness, and
geometrically composed all his methods by the aid of imagination and memory. To register
the transactions of the day, with observations upon them, is an exercise that soon drifts
into a habit as profitable as it soon becomes easy. It was thus that Curwen educated
himself in the art of thinking.
544 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
In his " One Hundred Days in Europe " Oliver Wendell Holmes says: " It is wonderful
how people will lie about big- trees. There must be as many as a dozen trees, each of
ca - itself the 'largest elm in New England.' In my younger days, when I never
traveled without a measuring- tape in my pocket, it amused me to see how meek one of
the great, swaggering elms would look when it saw the fatal measure begin to unreel itself.
I: seemed to me that the leaves actually trembled, as the inexorable band encircled the
trunk in the smallest place it could find, which is the only safe rule. The English elm
)oks like a more robust tree than ours, yet they tell me it is very fragile, and that its limbs
are constantly breaking off in high winds, just as it happens with our native elms. The
English elm, as we see it on Boston Common (growing side by side with ours), comes out
a little earlier, perhaps, than our own, but the difference is slight. Ours is not a very long-
lived tree ; between two and three hundred years is, I think, the longest life that can be
hoped for it."
Concerning horse-chestnut trees, Mr. Holmes says : " I saw none in Europe equal to
.those I remember in Salem, and especially to one in Rockport ; no willows like those I
pass in my daily drives. On the other hand, I think I never looked upon a Lombardy
poplar equal to the one I saw in Cambridge, England. No apple trees in England com-
pare with one next my own door, and there are many others as fine in the neighborhood.
Dandelions, buttercups, hawkweed, looked much as ours do at home. Wild roses also
grew by the roadside — smaller, and paler, I thought, than ours."
A hint of the discouragements of the missionary in Central Africa lies in the most
extraordinary impassivity and thoughtlessness on the part of the natives. Professor Drum-
mond says: " They have no ambition, no desire for anything more or better than they have.
They are perfectly content if so be, with little exertion, they find berries, yams, or millet,
all of which are eaten cooked or uncooked, as circumstances favor. If cooked, fire is
kindled by friction in rubbing together two sticks or blocks of wood. There is no system
of storage, no forethought as regards the future. During a lifetime to have become
possessed of four articles constitutes the end and aim of the African. The gruel-pot, mat,
bow, and arrow constitute his worldly possessions, and these are buried with him — the
string of the bow cut to indicate that its mission is forever accomplished." Arriving at a
missionary station, Professor Drummond saw a house; the door was open; he entered,
there were chairs, a table, books, everything in perfect order, neat and clean, but no voice
responded to his call. He visited a shop; there was the forge, the anvil, the hammer, and
near by a carpenter's tools and a bench; but the plane had long been idle; all was silent
and deserted. He entered another cottage; there were benches and the appurtenances of
a school. A little farther on through a garden he went, and there he found four graves —
all there was left of the mission station. The natives found no interest in the houses, the
blacksmith shop, the carpentry tools, the books, and they remained as the European mis-
sionary left them. He says : " One can never fully realize how little the animal man needs,
until he sees in the infancy of the race the open grave, its occupants and the simple neces-
saries to his existence. And one can never fully realize what man has and may become,
until he compares the civilization and culture of Europe and America with the primitive
animal of Central Africa."
HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS 545
Professor Drummond gave some graphic pictures of Central Africa, in h
before the American Association for the Advancement of Science, at its New \
ing in August of the present year. He was surprised at the utter lack of vegetable and
animal life but a short remove from the water-courses. He says: " Not a tree, a shrub, or
blade of grass relieves the glare of the sunlight upon the white and yellow sand.
unending silence becomes solemnly, weirdly impressive, especially at night, when one
gazes upon a boundless sea of sand broken into billows by occasional rocks. Possibh at
intervals, in the distance, may be heard the yelp of the hyena or the far-away roar of the
lion, but the rustle of a leaf or the hum of an insect is an unknown sound. Inland trips
were terrible. To move was pain and prostration, and yet to keep in motion was better
than to halt. Sleep was impossible even under canvas. Over the plains the quivering heat
rises in waves as from hot iron, while the mirage mocks the senses with life-like pictures
of lakes and rippling waters. The journey was day after day through narrow, oven -hot
valleys, over bald hill-tops, with here and there a grove or jungle scattered like isli ts
amid the waste."
Professor Drummond related several amusing incidents in his experience. He had
taken with him, as presents to chiefs, several watches and valuable cloths. These were
totally useless, for a yard or two of gayly colored calico or a few brass buttons were
the only gifts they would accept or could appreciate. A chief desired him to prolong
his visit, and with great difficulty was appeased because of Professor Drummond's ina-
bility to do so. Of the value of time, or its measure, they have no conception. The
statement that the party must arrive at a given place to sail on a specified date they
could not understand, and gazed with blank amazement at attempted explanations.
Days to them are hours, and they reckon time only by moons — one moon, two moons,
three moons away, past or future.
A writer of much force, in the Southwestern Journal of Education, says : " A careful
study of successful mind-methods reveals the fact that success depends more upon execu-
tive ability than intellectual attainments. Whatever may be the natural endowments of
the pupil, or however much these may be developed by educational processes, success
will not be assured until the whole man, the whole woman, is made completely subject to
the will. Stocking the mind with facts, inflating the intellect with information, is far less
important than the development of character. Give us men and women, perfect masters
of self, able by act of will to secure that persistent and concentrated application of energy
to the matter in hand, by means of which alone even mediocrity may counterfeit genius ;
certainly it insures success."
Boundary controversies have occupied so much attention since the beginning of our
national life that we are glad to note the pertinent remarks of the eminent scholar Justin
Winsor on that subject, in a paper recently read before the Rhode Island Historical
Society. He quoted the statement of the boundary lines as originally formulated between
the territories of Massachusetts and Canada, and showed how vague and meaningless they
were in the light of present knowledge, so that it was left for subsequent generations of
diplomats to straighten them out. He said he did not mean to go into the whole question,
but only to deal with that portion of the territory between Maine and Canada. He illus-
546 HISTORIC AND SOCIAL JOTTINGS
trated his paper with maps, and pointed out how these had been falsified by the official
u iphers of the French, after the treaty of 1783, the government of France having
designs on Canada, thinking to recover their lost ascendency. However much the French
had encouraged and assisted the American Colonies in obtaining their independence, it
was thought wise at the French court to hold a strong check upon them at the north
lest they become too strong. Mr. Winsor said that in 1785 the English map-makers fol-
lowed the lead of the French geographers, and gave the south line as the boundary. Not,
however, until 181 2 did Great Britain formulate a demand for the lower boundary line.
The treaty of 1783 had said the line was to be from the head-waters of the St. Croix to
the highlands that separated the waters flowing to the St. Lawrence from those that flowed
to the sea. This controversy went on many years, and at last was referred to the King of
the Netherlands, and he made a conventional award, which was not accepted.
Mr. Winsor described the Ashburton treaty, and the conferences of Lord Ashburton
and Daniel Webster at Marshfield, where, according to the popular presentation of the
newspapers of the day, these two diplomats, like two peaceful farmers, were settling the
boundaries between two great nations as though they were coming to a candid and peace-
ful agreement about the lines of their estates. He showed, however, that the celebrated
red-line map, sent by Franklin to Count Vincennes, and which was discovered by Jared
Sparks in Paris, in 1842, and forwarded to Webster, was an important factor in the nego-
tiations. This map revealed a red line on the southern highlands, and Webster, believing
it genuine, caused the commissioners both of Maine and Massachusetts to agree to the
treaty. The senators — many of them, as has since been shown — were of a different opinion,
and unconsciously took the correct view that this red line on the southern highlands was an
old French claim. Mr. Winsor argued that the British statesmen knew of the existence
of genuine maps which gave the northern boundary as the correct one, and they knew this
at the time when they sent over their agents to try and bring about the acceptance of the
other boundary. He gave the history of some of these maps, and an interesting account
of an attempt of his own to discover a map bearing on this question, which had been
among the papers of David Hartley, one of the early commissioners. He was in hopes
ultimately to secure it.
The conditional gift of one hundred thousand dollars for a new building for the treas-
ures and uses of the New York Historical Society has been generously extended for one
year.
Rinehart's great bronze statue of Chief-Justice Taney, generously presented by Mr. W.
T. Walters to the city of Baltimore, is of heroic size, being half way between life-size and
colossal, and has been placed north of the Washington Monument in Mount Vernon
Place. The jurist is represented as sitting upon the historic woolsack, clad in the robes
of office. His head is bent forward, and the expression of his countenance one of deep
thought. It is said to be one of the finest portrait statues in America.
BOOK NOTICES
547
BOOK NOTICES
THE ANCIENT CITIES OF THE NEW-
WORLD : Being Voyages and Explorations
in Mexico and Central America, from 1S57
to 1882. By DESIRE Charnay. Translated
from the French by J. Gonino and Helen
S. Conant. Introduction by ALLEN Thorn-
DIKE Rice. 209 Illustrations and a Map.
Large 8vo, pp. 514. New York, 1S87. Har-
per & Brothers.
There are sermons in stones, such as Shake-
speare never dreamed of, and some of them are
preached by the ruins of the ancient cities in
Mexico and Central America. Thither, under
the joint auspices of Mr. Pierre Lorillard and the
French Government, M. Charnay conducted an
expedition, and the record of his discoveries and
adventures make up this book. This was the
first systematic exploration of a region which
has long been known to contain the relics of an
extremely ancient race, and where monuments
of surpassing grandeur attest the civilization of
a people of whom tradition preserves only the
faintest memory, and whose hieroglyphics are
still undeciphered.
The story is remarkably instructive and inter-
esting ; the tale of the adventures which befell
the expedition lends to the narrative the charm
of romantic fiction, of travel and adventure,
while sedulously subordinated to the more im-
portant exposition of the relics of the vanished
nation, and to the discoveries of the explor-
ers. As we follow M. Charnay through the
inhabited regions of Mexico, or stay with him
whde his guides hew a path through the dense
tropical forest which surrounds the site of some
ancient city or palace; as we listen with them
to the traditions of the faiths and passions of
this long vanished race, we can scarcely re-
alize that it is all true, and that we are reading
not fiction but history. The author gives us an
idea of the civilization of the ancient Toltecs
when he says: "On examining the monuments
at Tula, we are filled with admiration for the
marvelous building capacity of the people who
erected them ; for, unlike most primitive na-
tions, they used every material at once. They
coated their inner walls with mud and mortar,
faced their outer walls with baked bricks and
cut stones, had wooden roofs, and brick and
stone staircases. They were acquainted with
pilasters (we found them in their houses), with
caryatides, with square and round columns : in-
deed, they seem to have been familiar with
every architectural device. That they were
painters and decorators we have ample indica-
tions in the houses we unearthed, where the
walls were covered with rosettes, palms, red,
white, and gray geometrical figures on a black
ground. By a lucky chance we wen- able to
bring to light one of the figures as perfect a^ the
day it left the artist's hands. . . . This relic
was on the centre pillar, which was entirel)
ered with a thick calcareous coating, caused by
water trickling from the cornice. Under this
coating the faint outline of three figures was
just perceptible. My first attempt to uncover
the standing figure was not successful, for the
hammer brought both the layer of lime and part
of the head of the figure with it. I was more
cautious in attacking the sitting figure. . . .
and fortunate enough to bring to light, without
breaking so much as a bead around his neck, a
charming specimen of an art which was not
even suspected. It represents a man seated
Turkish fashion. . . . His head-dress is a kind
of mitre with a tuft of feathers in strong relief;
a beautiful collar is round his neck ; his cape
is like that worn by ladies at the present day ;
bracelets are round his arms ; his dress below
the girdle is like the cape. . . . Having inad-
vertently broken some beads and the spangles
round his arm, I was surprised to find it per-
fectly modeled underneath. I undressed the
figure, which was throughout beautifully fin-
ished."
It would be pleasant to multiply quotations —
to tell how Alfonso (the cook), in gratitude for
his recovery from malaria, prepared a sumptu-
ous repast ; how monkeys serenaded the explor-
ers ; how the bearers ran away and left them
to shift for themselves ; how in the wilderness
they met an Englishman exploring "on his own
hook " — but space forbids. The book must be
read to be appreciated, and it is one which i-,
sure to increase in popularity the more it is
known. It will charm alike grown people and
children, and be read with profit by every sci-
entist and historian — and this is a combination
that is rare indeed. The pictorial wealth of the
book adds largely to its value and interest. The
illustrations number more than two hundred,
besides a portrait of M. Charnay, and an excel-
lent map of such portions of Mexico and Cen-
tral America as were covered by the migrations
of the Toltec race.
The translation is by no means perfect, as
for example, Mr. Pierre Lorillard is rendered
Mr. Peter Lorillard, and on page 109, where
occurs the phrase "spaces reserved for turkeys,
ducks, and every species of volatile." Still, it is
very much above the average. The book should,
however, be carefully revised by a competent
critic, and an index added when it reaches a
second edition.
RECOLLECTIONS OF A MINISTER TO
FRANCE. 1869-1S77. By E. B. Wash-
BURNE, LL.D. With illustrations. 2 vols.,
548
BOOK NOTICES
Bvo, pp. 701. New York, 1SS7. Charles
Scribner's Sons.
Many oi the chapters in these handsome voi-
unies have been published in current periodi-
cals, but as now collected the work is one of
great historic interest and importance. It pre-
sc ts in a continuous narrative a vivid picture
of the affairs of France during Mr. Washburne's
residence in Paris as minister from the United
State: — a period of eight and one-half years —
beginning with the spring of 1869. Through
his animated descriptions we are introduced to
the emperor, the empress, and the ministry, in
the most familiar manner ; we become acquainted
with the unrest, the deep rumbling of popular
discontent, and the turbulent French gatherings ;
we are startled by the declaration of war ; we
are shocked by the first French defeats, and the
proclamation of the Republic ; we are alive to
all that goes on among those who are penned up
in Paris through the long monotonous weeks of
the siege ; we note the return from exile of
Victor Hugo, and the departure of Gambetta
for Tours in a balloon ; we grow more and more
interested as we follow the impressive descrip-
tion of the armistice and the evacuation, the
rise of the Commune, the attendant anarchy and
terrorism, the desperation of the insurgents, the
downfall of the Commune, and the assassination
of Archbishop Darboy ; and finally, after peace
is restored, we dwell in a French Republic long
enough to compare it with our own, and witness
the turmoil of the reaction, the overthrow of
Thiers, and we finally see tranquillity attained.
It is a wonderful story from the beginning to the
end, and it is most charmingly told. It is in-
valuable to all students of French history and to
all cultivated readers who take an interest in the
great movements among nations.
Mr. Washburne writes from the standpoint
of an eye-witness. He was a close observer of
men and events, and his pen-portraiture is a
notable feature of these handsome volumes. He
says : " The three most eloquent and instructive
talkers {causeurs) I ever knew in Paris, were M.
Thiers, Jules Simon, and Gambetta. Indeed, I
never knew their equal anywhere. Of the three
I should put Jules Simon first as a conversation-
alist. Jules Favre was a fine talker, and he
used the French language in the most exquisite
style." Mr. Washburne describes Gambetta as
" a young man of striking personal appearance,
with coal-black hair and black whiskers, closely
trimmed. He was a little under middle height,
and rather a slim person (he afterward became
uncomfortably heavy). He entered public life
as an extreme radical, but reaching positions de-
volving upon him great responsibilities, he de-
veloped great moderation and sagacity. As an
orator in the Chamber, he scarcely had an
equal, and not a superior. Mirabeau, in his
palmiest days in the National Convention, was
never his superior. I was present in the diplo-
matic gallery when he made his speech in the
Chamber the day after the overthrow of M.
Thiers by the coalition, and I never listened to
a speech of so much eloquence and power."
The illustrations include portraits of Mr.
Washburne, of Napoleon III., of the Empress
Eugenie, of Emile Ollivier, of Gambetta, of
Louis Adolphe Thiers, of the Emperor William,
and of other distinguished characters, as well as
an incomparable series of picturesque views of
Paris during the siege and Commune.
A MEMOIR OF RALPH WALDO EMER-
SON. By James Elliot Cabot. In two
volumes, i2mo. pp. 809. Boston, 1887.
Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
The peculiar charm that centres about biog-
raphy, particularly when the subject has risen
to eminence in any line of thought or learning,
renders this work most timely and acceptable.
Mr. Cabot has performed a service to the read-
ing public that will be appreciated, and with
consummate discretion, ability, and good taste.
He has not undertaken an estimate of Emerson,
but to furnish details of his outward and in-
ward history that may fill out and define more
closely the image of him which his friends and
admirers already possess. The volumes before
us are very rich in learning, thought, and sense,
very clear in style, and of high grade as a criti-
cal commentary. The earlier and most un-
eventful years of Mr. Emerson's life are
treated so skillfully that they form some of the
most attractive pages of the work. He came
of an intellectual ancestry, and, even as a boy,
lived and moved and had his being in an atmos-
phere of letters quite apart by himself. He
knew little of childhood's amusements ; never
even had a sled. " His mother," says the au-
thor, " had cautioned him against the rude
boys in the street, and he used to stand at the
gate, wistful to see what the rude boys were
like." Mr. Emerson wrote in his journal in
1839: "When I was thirteen years old my
uncle, Samuel Ripley, one day asked me, ' How
is it, Ralph, that all the boys dislike you and
quarrel with you, whilst the grown people are
fond of you ? ' Now I am thirty-six and the
fact is reversed : the old people suspect and dis-
like me, and the young people love me." Mr.
Cabot says : " One explanation lay, perhaps, in
a certain lofty carriage of the head — the air of
one, as Dr. Furness says, dwelling apart in a
higher sphere — apt to be mistaken for pride,
though it was in truth quite free from any self-
reference."
Of Mr. Emerson's college life, Josiah Quin-
cy, who was his classmate, gives some ac-
count. He was only a fair scholar according to
the standard of the college authorities, and very
quiet and unobtrusive. Mr. Cabot says: " Em-
BOOK NO TICKS
549
erson told Mr. Moncure D. Conway that when he
graduated, his ambition was to be a professor of
rhetoric and elocution. I find in one of his
later journals the query, ' Why has never the
poorest country college offered me a professor-
ship of rhetoric ? I think I could have taught
an orator, though I am none.' But he could
hardly have expected anything of the kind at
this time. Some disappointment there was ; but
I can trace nothing definite, unless it were the
failure to obtain an ushership at the Boston
Latin school, which Dr. Ripley thought might
have been given him had he been more studious
in college." He detested mathematics, in which
he could never make progress. On leaving col-
lege he taught school, but it was not a vocation
he liked. He called himself " a hopeless school-
master, just entering upon years of trade, to
which no distinct limit is placed; toiling through
this miserable employment without even the
poor satisfaction of discharging it well : for the
good suspect me, and the geese dislike me."
Mr. Cabot relates the circumstances of his prep-
aration for the ministry, his marriage, the death
of his wife, his visit to Europe, his first lectures,
his drifting away from the churches, and his
interest in the slavery question. Of his methods
of composition we Caci learn somewhat from the
following extract :
"In his writing, the sentence is the natural
limit of continuous effort ; the context and con-
nection an afterthought.
' In writing my thoughts I seek no order, no
harmony, or result. I am not careful to see
how they comport with other thoughts and other
moods — I trust them for that — any more than
how any one minute of the year is related to
any other remote minute, which yet I know is
so related. The thoughts and the minutes obey
their own magnetisms, and will certainly reveal
them in time.'
His practice was, when a sentence had taken
shape, to write it out in his journal, and leave it
to find its fellows afterward. These journals,
paged and indexed, were the quarry from which
he built his lectures and essays. When he had
a paper to get ready, he took the material col-
lected under the particular heading and added
whatever suggested itself at the moment. The
proportion thus added seems to have varied con-
siderably ; it was large in the early time, say
to about 1846, and sometimes very small in the
later essays."
Mr. Emerson rarely attempted to make a
speech without preparation. Mr. Cabot says :
"I remember his getting up at a dinner of the
Saturday Club on the Shakespeare anniversary
in 1864, looking about him tranquilly for a
minute or two, and then sitting down ; serene
and unchecked, but unable to say a word upon
a subject so familiar to his thoughts from boy-
hood."
A HISTORY OF < ONNE( TICUT. Byl
B. Sanford". r-'nio. pp. 381. Hartford, 1887.
S. S. Scranton & Co.
This work of Rev. Mr. Sanford is a very in-
teresting and valuable contribution to Am
local history. It i^ written in an easy, flowing,
popular style, neither too heavy for the imma-
ture or too light for the ripe scholar, and il
bears the evidence in its pages of careful re-
search and conscientious regard lor aci ura< j "i
statement. Connecticut has been sadly in need
of a historian who, with the time. the taste
tact, and the talent, should snake her pasl affairs
better known in the homes of her people. Mr.
Sanford seems to have met this want. He does
not attempt to unwind the tangled threads >f
obscure controversy or enter into philosophic
disquisitions, but he has shown a genius for his-
torical narrative that the reading public will not
be slow to recognize and appreciate.
In telling the story of the foundation, settle-
ment, and development of the Connecticut Com-
monwealth, Mr. Sanford presents a series of
concise and stirring sketches, exceptionally full
of particulars, and very attractive for the ri-ing
generation, who do not incline to dull books tor
acquiring knowledge. He does not weary the
mind with long-detailed accounts of Indian
wars and political disturbances ; nor does he
pass them by without sufficient mention. He
touches upon the life of the people in the colo-
nial period, pays special attention to the history
and adoption of the first constitution of Con-
necticut, with brief pen portraits of the men
who were the leaders in its preparation and ac-
ceptance, gives us the story of the Regicides,
picturesque anecdotes not a few, accounts of
Connecticut's part in the old French wars, in the
Revolution, in the War of 1812, and in the late
civil war, and introduces many features of in-
dustrial progress, of education, and of the arts
and literature. He says: "We should gain a
very wrong impression of the old times if we
thought of our Puritan ancestors as always wear-
ing long faces, never smiling or enjoying inno-
cent pastimes. On the contrary, their social
life was marked by many festive days. Six
times in a year the whole military force of
the plantation was called out These general-
training days brought together the old peo-
ple, women and children, as spectators of the
military exercises and athletic games that fol-
lowed."
It is to be regretted that the illustrations of
the volume are not as well engraved or printed
as they should have been. But the work is rich
in its chronicles, healthful in its spirit, and
admirably adapted to the use of schools, and
for young readers and all readers at the home
fireside.
•550
BOOK NOTICES
C< >NNECTICUT. A Study of Commonwealth
Democracy. [American Commonwealths.] By
Alexander Johnston. i6mo, gilt top, pp.
Boston, 1887. Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
The eminent professor of Jurisprudence and
Political Economy in Princeton College, Alex-
ander Johnston, has brought to his onerous task
in the study of Connecticut's democracy and its
influences a well-disciplined mind, and a famil-
iarity with his theme which renders his discus-
sions and conclusions clear and forcible, even in
directions where the student may entertain dif-
fering opinions. He says in his preface : " This
volume is not meant to deal mainly with the
antiquarian history of Connecticut, with the
achievements of Connecticut men and women,
or with those biographical details which so often
throw the most instructive side-lights on local
history." Thus the reader can see at a glance
how the two histories of Connecticut, by Mr.
Sanford and Professor Johnston, do not in any
sense conflict with each other. Professor John-
ston has aimed to present certain features in the
development of Connecticut which have influ-
enced the general development of the state
system in this country. He has taken a large
and comprehensive survey of characteristic
points, and grasped his many-sided subject in a
masterly manner. He claims for Connecticut a
high place among the commonwealths, and one
cannot read his work without being impressed
with a sense of the influence the children of
Connecticut have carried into all sorts of chan-
nels. He shows also that the foreign influence
of Connecticut has been extraordinary in some
periods of her history. One exceptionally nota-
ble chapter is on the " Industrial Development of
Connecticut." He shows that her development
within the past century has been a curious but
natural consequence of her preceding history.
" Thrown into any situation, a Connecticut
party at once set about organizing civil govern-
ment, and the individual began the promptest
and most efficient preparations for taking care
of himself. . . . Farmers and their sons did
not lose their evenings or rainy days ; these
were spent in making nails or other iron pro-
ducts, or anything that would sell. All this,
continued through generations, took the place of
the technical education which is now finding its
way into our school systems. The consequence
ha- been, during the last seventy years, the de-
velopment of the modern Connecticut mechanic
out of the Connecticut agriculturist of the last
century, and the transformation of the common-
wealth into a great industrial community. . . .
The Connecticut system was one which de-
veloped high individual energy and capacity,
though in later times, when the spread of democ-
racy among all the American commonwealths
has given all men the same privileges, it has
.-.hown itself most prominently in the develop-
ment of the Connecticut mechanic." Professor
Johnston also asserts that " the judicial position
given by circumstances to the Connecticut dele-
gates in the Convention of 1787 would have been
of no value whatever if the delegates had not
had something in their heads to offer for the
Convention's consideration, and that something
the institutions of Connecticut had been brood-
ing over for a hundred and fifty years. There
was probably not a public man in Connecticut
in 1787 who was not prepared to accept the pe-
culiar federative idea of the Constitution, if it
should be presented to him : his commonwealth
democracy had prepared him for it."
A HISTORY OF THE CLAPBOARD
TREES, or Third Parish, Dedham, Massa-
chusetts, now the Unitarian Parish, West
Dedham. 1 736-1 886. By George Willis
Cooke. 8vo, pp. 139. Boston, 1887. George
H. Ellis.
Four sermons preached in January and June,
1886, rewritten and rearranged, form this in-
teresting volume. The purpose of the author
has been to save from destruction whatever is of
permanent value in connection with the history
of the little parish. The quaint name, "Clap-
board Trees," was derived from the character of
the timber growing on the hill where the first
meeting-house was located. On the earliest settle-
ment of the town, clapboards were in great de-
mand, and a saw-mill was erected in the vicinity.
The Rev. Josiah Dwight was the first minister
of this historic parish ; the Rev. Andrew Tyler
the second minister ; the Rev. Thomas Thacher
the third minister, and the Rev. John White was
the fourth minister, settled in 1814. The building
of a new church edifice in the early part of this
century is critically described. Mr. Cooke perti-
nently says: "The growing interest in every
phase of the history of our country is full of
promise, for the life of the present is the product
of the life of the past."
JAMES MADISON, JAMES MONROE, AND
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. [Lives of the
Presidents.] By William O. Stoddard.
i2mo, pp. 331. New York, 1887. Freder-
ick A. Stokes.
When completed, this series of books is de-
signed to embrace about ten volumes, forming a
very useful and interesting collection for young
people. The main facts and incidents in the
lives of their distinguished subjects are presented
in a pleasing and popular style. The charm of
biography lies chiefly in the genius of the biog-
rapher. The men of the past were human, like
ourselves, and should be treated as such by those
who chronicle their public and private acts. Mr.
liOOK NOTICES
55'
Stoddard writes with care, and aims to give the
results of the latest research. In the limited
space of one volume he sketches three Presi-
dents, and for all those who desire portraiture in
brief he has performed good service. The vol-
ume is issued in clear, handsome type, on fine
paper, and is tastefully bound in uniform style
with previous volumes.
A SHORT HISTORY OF THE CITY OF
PHILADELPHIA, from its Foundation to
the Present Time. By Susan Coolidge.
i2mo, pp. 288. Boston. 1SS7. Roberts
Brothers.
This little sketch of the birth and growth of
Philadelphia has been prepared from materials
originally collected for the use of the Tenth
United States Census, and embraces eleven
chapters, beginning with the " early settlements,"
and ending with "Philadelphia, from 1880 to
1886." It is an admirably condensed account of
the rise, progress, and prosperity of the " Quaker
City." " It is difficult to realize, when studying
any one of our large American towns," says the
author on the opening page, " how short a time
it is since the ground on which it stands was an
unbroken wilderness, upon which the eye of
the white man had never rested. Two centuries
and a half — a mere drop in the sum of the an-
cient civilizations — represents all, and more than
all, of what we in America count as antiquity.
Take Philadelphia, for instance — second in
population and importance among the cities of
the United States, and rivaling in area every
capital of Europe, unless it be the city of Lon-
don : its foundation goes back to the earliest
days of our colonies, yet Rome in the decadence
age, and Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Athens had
then numbered each over two thousand years."
SOBRIQUETS AND NICKNAMES. By Al-
bert R. Frey. 8vo, pp. 482. Boston. 1888.
Ticknor & Company.
"It appears somewhat strange," says Mr.
Frey in his preface. " that no book has as yet
been issued which is devoted to the explanation
and derivation of these witty, and, in some in-
stances, abusive appellations ; and to remedy
this defect the present work was undertaken."
Some of these peculiar nicknames have obtained
great currency, and yet they could not be traced
in any cyclopedia, nor would one know where
to look for their derivation. " The Attic
Muse," for instance, the name bestowed on
Xenophon, the Athenian historian ; " The Attila
of Authors," the name given to the critic, Gaspar
Scioppius, who boasted he occasioned the deaths
of Casaubon and Scaliger, and was detested and
dreaded as a public scourge ; " Jehu," a nick-
name given to Louis XVIII. of France ; " Nod
Noll." one of the numerous epithet
on Cromwell; "Grammaticus," .1 nickname
given to Aelfric, a monk ol Abingdon ; and
"Orange Peel," as Sir Robert Peel was called
when Chief Secretary ol Ireland from [8x2 to
r.818, on account of his anti-( latholic tendei
The volume contains nun h welcome informa-
tion, and in its handsome dress will find it-, way
to a precious place on the library shelf,
EDWARD JESSUPof Wesl Farms, W« I
ter Co., New York, and His Di CI dants.
With an Introduction and an Appi
latter containing records of other American
families of the name. B) Rev, IIim^ Gru
WOLD Jessi r. Square 8vo, pp. 442. 1'rivately
printed. 1SS7.
Edward Jessup was one of the party of En-
glishmen who in 1652 established a settlement
at Middleborough (Newtown), Long Island. He
had been in New England three or four
prior to that date, and had bought considerable
land in Connecticut. The settlers of Middle-
borough were allowed the privilege of nominat-
ing six citizens for magistrates, to be appointed
by the Dutch governor and council. Jessup's
was one of the names first sent in. He removed
to Westchester, New York, about 1663, and
purchased of the Indians, conjointly with John
Richardson, the tract of land subsequently call* d
West Farms. His eldest daughter married
Thomas Hunt Jr., who through inheritance
and purchase came into possession of the prop-
erty. Among the direct descendants of Edward
Jessup in the seventh generation, is Morris K.
Jessup, the New York banker, who purchased
the family homestead of his grandfather. Maji r
Ebenezer Jessup, in Westport, Connecticut, and
in 18S6 gave it to the Congregational Church in
that place for perpetual use as a parsonage.
The reputation of Morris K. Jessup is not con-
fined to his successes as a business man ; he is
known as a philanthropist, and a public-spirited
citizen in countless directions. While president
of the Museum of Natural History, he presented
the "Jessup Collection of the Woods of tin-
United States/' representing the forest wealth
of the entire country ; he was one of the found-
ers of the Young Men's Christian Association of
New York ; has been president of the New York
Mission and Tract Society and of the Five
Points House of Industry, a trustee of the Union
Theological Seminary, and is connected in an
official way with numerous institutions ol art
and charity. He built the DeWitt Memorial
Church in Rivington Street in l88l, at a cost of
$60,000, and presented it to the City Mission
and Tract Society. His wife is a daughter of
Rev. Dr. DeWitt.
This volume embraces a much wider range of
BOOK NOTICES
historic data than is usual in genealogical publi-
cations. It has been prepared with scholarly
care, and is a very interesting work ; the fine por-
traits of different members of the Jessup family,
with other illustrations, add greatly to its perma-
nent value. The numerous descendants of the
first Edward Jessup will prize it as it deserves.
This is a dainty Christmas gift for the little
ones in the household. The volume is on a
larger scale than Miss Lathbury's " Seven Little
Maids," which has been so popular in the past,
and is exquisitely printed in twelve colors, with
descriptive verses to each illustration.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE CANADIAN IN-
STITUTE. Toronto. Third series. Vol.
IV.. iSSj-iSSo. Svo, pp.47. Printed for the
Canadian Institute, Toronto. 18S7.
Among the interesting contents of this contin-
uation of the " Canadian Journal of Science,
Literature and History" is an address by Pres-
ident \V. H. Van derSmissen, M.A., in which he
sketches the past history of the Institute, and its
good work in the promotion of pure and applied
science ; an able paper read by D. A. O'Sulli-
van, D.C.L., on "The Jurisprudence of In-
sanity : " and a notable discussion by A. F.
Chamberlain, B.A., on the "Relationship of
the American Languages."
COLLECTIONS OF THE NOVA SCOTIA
HISTORICAL SOCIETY. For the year
1886-1887. Vol. V. Svo, pp. 158. Halifax,
N. S. 1SS7.
The most important paper in this volume is
" The Expulsion of the Acadians," by Sir
Adams G. Archibald, read before the society on
the 7th of January, 1886. The author considers
poets dangerous historians, and says few will
take the trouble to inquire how the expulsion
described by Longfellow was provoked. He
says : "It was a Massachusetts governor who
devised the scheme. It was Massachusetts offi-
cers and Massachusetts soldiers who carried out
the decree of expulsion . . . and it was Mas-
sachusetts vessels, chartered from Massachu-
setts merchants, officered and manned by Mas-
sachusetts captains and crews, that carried the
poor Acadians into exile." The paper will bear
close reading and critical analysis.
TWELVE TIMES ONE. Illustrations of
Child Life. Designed in water-colors. By
Mary A. Lathbury. With descriptive
poems by the author of "John Halifax,''
Leigh Hunt, Thomas Hood. Elizabeth Bar-
rett Browning, Jean Ingelow, Algernon
Charles Swinburne, and others. 4to. Litho-
graphic cover.-, in original design in colors and
gold. 1888. New York. Worthington Co.
INTERIOR DECORATION. By Arnold
W. Brunner and Thomas Tryon. With
65 Illustrations. Square quarto. pp. 65.
Price $3. New York. 1887. William T.
Comstock.
The papers which form this beautiful volume
have been published from time to time in the
architectural journal Building, but they are here
presented, after careful revision, in a readable
and informing work. The subjects treated em-
brace nearly every feature of a complete and
attractive dwelling, and no one can turn the
leaves even at random without becoming deeply
interested. Not only the artistic illustrations,
which are a delight to the eye, but the lessons
in decorative art running through each chapter
embrace a multitude of hints of practical value
to all lovers of the beautiful in graceful forms
and pleasing colors. Speaking of the hall, the
authors insist that it should be as large as the
size of the house will permit, and that it should
be given a cheerful and friendly expression.
Then a series of pictures follows from both pen
and pencil of the authors until one almost feels
the welcome warmth of the blazing fire upon
the pretty hearthstone. Several pages of the
volume are devoted to the staircase, which our
architect authors say ' ' should be decorative in
construction, and carefully considered when
the plan of the house is first studied." The
library, the parlor, the dining-room, the study
and the bedrooms, all pass under critical review.
Nothing could be more interesting or suggestive
to many of our readers than the chapter devoted
to the study — a room which usually reflects the
tastes and habits of its occupant more, perhaps,
than any other. We read : "The architect is as
much in his sphere fashioning the inner walls
of a building as the outer ones, and if he is skill-
ful he will so combine the useful and the beauti-
ful that neither shall suffer. The old rule that
construction should be decorated and decoration
not be constructed is an excellent one, and should
be borne in mind. An apartment that gives
evidence of design, and has some points of inter-
est in itself, however simply treated, needs not
to be smothered with bric-a-brac, painting and
embroideries, an only resource to relieve the
bareness of houses built — we cannot say de-
signed— by the hundred."
INDEX
ABINGTON, Mass., cannon for
the Revolutionary war, cast
in, 204.
Adams, Herbert B., memorial sketch
of Leopold von Ranke, 85.
Adams, John, papers of. 32.
Adams, John Quincy, life of, no-
ticed, 550.
Adams, Samuel, papers of, 32.
Adams, Walter Booth, present home
of the Magazine of American His-
tory, its memories and associa-
tions, 76.
Africa, Prof. Drummond's address
on central, 544.
Albany, N. Y., Milbert's views of,
1826, 458, 468 ; Lafayette's visit to,
1824, 467.
America, the tread-mill in, 525 ; the
Fairfaxes of, 542.
American Association for the Ad-
vancement of Science, annual
meeting, election of officers, 264 ;
abbreviation of the title of, 266 ;
papers on the economy of food, by
Prof. Atwater ; the testimony of
statistics to our national progress,
by Prof. James, 267 ; to be invited
to England, 268.
American Biography, Vol. II., no-
ticed, 184.
American Economic Association,
annual meeting, papers on the ef-
forts of manual laborers to better
their condition, by Francis A.
Walker, 84 ; the problem of trans-
portation, by E. J. James; the
long and short haul clauses of the
inter-State commerce act, by Ed-
win R. A. Seligman, 85.
American Electoral System, no-
ticed, 182.
American Historical Association,
annual meeting, papers on the
manuscript sources of American
history, by Justin Winsor ; Diplo-
matic prelude to the Seven Years'
War, by Herbert Elmer Mills ;
Silas Deane, by Charles Isham ;
Historical grouping, by James
Schouler ; the Constitutional rela-
tions of the American Colonies to
the English Government at the
commencement of the American
Revolution, by Mellen Chamber-
lain; the Peace Negotiations of
1783, by John Jay ; sketch of Leo-
pold von Ranke, by Herbert B.
Adams : the Parliamentary ex-
periment in Germany, by Kuno
Francke; a study in Swiss history,
by John Martin Vincent ; the
Spaniard in New Mexico, by W.
Vol XVIII.— No. 6
H. H. Davis ; the historic name of
our country, by Moses Coit Ty-
ler ; the government of London,
by Arthur M.Wheeler; religious
liberty in Va., and Patrick Henry,
by Charles J. Sille ; the American
chapter in church history, by
Philip Schaff ; historical studies
in Canada, by George Stewart,
Jr., 84 ; election of officers, 86.
American History, manuscript
sources of, Justin Winsor, 21.
American Progress. Poem by
Charles K. Tuckerman. 72.
American Revolution, Henry Lau-
rens in the London tower, 1 ;
manuscripts relating to the, 26, 27,
29i 3°t 31- Enoch Crosby, the
Spy, 73, 341 ; the constitutional re-
lations of the American colonies
at the commencement of the,
85 ; peace negotiations of 1783.
85 ; Silas Deane. 85 ; John
Sevier, as a commonwealth
builder, a sequel to the rear-
guard of the, noticed, 95; general
orders relating to German troops
at Winchester, Va., 1781, 164; the
first naval battle of the, 173 ; Gen.
James M. Varnum of the Conti-
nental army, 185 ; cannon fur-
nished for the, 203 ; a patriotic
parson, 239 ; a patriotic letter of
Gen. Arnold, 250 ; route of Col.
Campbell, from Savannah to Au-
gusta, 1779, 256, 342 ; N. J. Volun-
teers in the, 272.
Ancient Cities of the new world,
noticed, 548.
Andre, John, the spy, noticed, 455.
Andrews, Prof. F. B., the Federal
Convention of 1787, 542.
Andrews, Israel Ward, settlement
of the Northwest, 81 ; the admis-
sion of Kentucky, Tennessee and
Ohio into the Union, 336.
Architecture, a short history of,
noticed, 453.
Armstrong, William Jackson, the
captured battle flags, 252.
Arnold, Gen. Benedict, letter to the
Committee of Safety of Schenec-
tady, Aug. 16, 177, in regard to
Fort George, 250 ; wounded at
Quebec, 350, 445.
Artists, jealousy of, 354.
Ashton, Eugene, the Latrobe corn-
stalk columns at Washington, 128.
Assyria, History of, noticed, 94
Atkinson, Edward, the Margin of
Profits, noticed, 270.
Augusta Co., Va., Annals of, no-
ticed, 270.
-37
" Auld Lang Syne," the manuscript
of, 265.
Authors, a century ago, 349.
BABY Grace, the Christmas sum-
mons, a poem. Mrs. Martha
J. Lamb, 535.
Bacon. Nathaniel, the rebel, his prop-
ositions to John Goode r( 7
Baker, Charles D., the First Re-
formed Dutch church of Brook-
lyn, NT. Y., 336
Baker, George A.. Mrs. Hephaestus,
and other short stories, noticed,
181.
Baker, John, the Federal Constitu-
tion, noticed, 181.
Bancroft, George, the study of his-
tory, 266.
Bancroft. Hubert Howe, how Cali-
fornia was secured, 194.
Baptist Church, the first in Boston,
82.
Barncveld, John, execution of, 278.
Beauchamp, W. M , the Church of
England in N. Y.. 83.
Beecher, Henry Ward. Memorial,
noticed, 269 ; as a humorist, .134,
456.
Belleville, N. J., the Reformed
church at, 87.
Benjamin, S. G. W., Lady Franklin
in Greece, 161 ; character of Daniel
Webster, 317.
Bent, Samuel Arthur, Familiar Short
Sayings of Great Men, noticed, ,5.
Bernard, Gov. Francis, papers of, 30.
Betts, Beverly R.. family and resi-
dence of Col. Beverly Robinson,
352-
Birch, Harvey, the spy, 141.
Bishop, John M., The U. S. Mail
Service. 45.
Bok, Edward W., Beecher Memorial,
edited by, noticed, 269.
Boodle, origin of the word, 82, 191,
262, 353, 445.
Book Notices.— Ju ly -Lecky's Eng-
land, 93; Shurz's life 01 Henry
Clay, 94 ; Ragozin's Story of Assy-
ria, 94 ; Gilmore's John Sevier, 95;
Strohm's Cookery book, 95 ; Mun-
fer's Appeal to Life, 95 ; Bent's
hort Sayings of Great Men, 95 ;
Wood's Natural Law in the Busi-
ness World, 96: Papers of the
California Historical Societv, Vol.
I., 96.
August— Holland Society year
book, 180 ; Chapman's French in
the Alleghany Valley, 180 ; Walsh's
Queen of the House of David,
180 ; Baker's Mrs. Hephaestus and
554
INDEX
other Stories, t8i ; Longfellow
Memorials, rbi ; Baker's Federal
Constitution, r8i : Wilson's China
and Japan. 18a : May's Drone's
Honey. 18a : Isham s Fishery
Question, 182 ; O'Neil's American
Electoral System. 182 ; Samuel's
Forecastle to the Cabin. 183; Van
Gelder Papers, 183; Wellcome's
Metlakahtta, 183; the Wherewithal
System of Education. 183 ; Apple-
ton's Cyclopedia of American Bi-
ography, iSj.
■•.'■:'•— Year Book of Char-
leston. 1SS0, 260: Beecher Memo-
rial. 269 : Davis Norway Nights
and Russian Days, 270 : Atkinson's
Margin of Profits, 270; Waddell's
Augusta Co.. Va., 270 : Cooper's
Rural Hours, 270; Thwaites and
Butterrield's Sketches of Lyman
C. Draper and Mortimer M. Jack-
son, 271 ; Swinburne's Poems, 271 ;
Kirkland's Zury, a novel. 271 ;
Births, Marriages, and Deaths of
Dedham. Vol. I., 272; Stryker's
N. J. Volunteers in the Revolu-
tionary War. 272.
October — International law of the
U. S., 357; York Deeds, Maine,
Vol. I., 357; Jones' Christ in
Camp. 358 ; Journals of the Mili-
tary Expedition of Gen. Sullivan,
T779i 359 ; Nebraska Historical
Transactions. Vol. II., 350; Ed-
sall's King's Bridge, N. Y., 360 ;
Pocahontas, and her descendants,
360 ; Readings for young men,
360.
November— Tuckerman's Archi-
tecture, 453 ; McClellan's per-
sonal memoirs and military his-
tory of U. S. Grant, versus the
record of the Army of the Poto-
mac, 453 ; Hale's Trans-AUeghany
Pioneers, 454 ; Martin's Life of
Father Jaques. 454 ; Lossing's two
spies, Hale and Andre, 455 ; Dimi-
try's Three Good Giants, 455 ;
Drake's Great West, 455 ; Long-
fellow's Prose birthday book, 455 ;
Hague's life notes. 456 ; Mathew's
Uncle Rutherford's attic, 456 ;
Kirk's Beecher as a humorist, 456.
December— Charney's Ancient
Cities of the New World, 548 ;
Wa-hburne's Recollections of a
minister to France, 548 ; Cabot's
Memoirs of Emerson; 549 ; San-
ford's Connecticut, 549; John-
ston's Connecticut, 549 ; Cooke's
Clapboard Trees, 549 ; Stoddard's
Madison, Monroe, and John Quin-
cy Adams, 550 ; Coolidge's Phila-
delphia, 550 ; Frcy's Sobriquets
and Xicknames, 550 ; Jessup Gene-
alogy. 55°; Canadian Institute
Proceedings, 551 ; Nova Scotia
Historical Society Collections. 551 ;
Lathbury's Child Life. 551; Brun-
ner and Tryon's Interior Decora-
tions, 551.
Boston, Mass., the first Baptist
Church in '82 ; Lafayette's visit
to. 1825, 459, 4^5 ; Milbert's view
of, (826, 4^4.
Boudinot, Elias, papers of, 31.
Bowdoin, Edgar, the custom of cast-
ing a shoe after a bride. 169.
Bowdoin. James, papers of. 33.
\',r ford, John, founder of the Ken-
tucky Gazette, portrait, 125.
Bride, the custom of casting a shoe
after a, 169, 262.
Bridger, James, ancestry of, 351.
Bridgewater, Mass., cannon foundry
in, 203.
Brinley, Thomas, home of, in Eng-
land! 363.
Brooklyn. ~N. Y.. the First Reformed
Dutch Church, 336, 543.
Brown, Charles Brockden, novelist,
542-
Brunner, Arnold W., interior decor-
ations, noticed, 551.
Buchanan, James, letter to Royal
Phelps, December. 22, i860, in
regard to the secession of the
Southern states, 77.
Burns, Robert, the manuscript songs
"Auld Lang Syne" and "Scots
wha ha wi' Wallace bled," 265.
Burr, Aaron, a study, Charles H.
Peck, I., 403 ; II., 482 ; expedition
of, 538, 539.
Butler, James D, Our Revolution-
ary Thunder, 203 ; alien disabil-
ities, 261 ; church-bells in America,
261.
Butterfield. Consul W., Biographical
Sketch of Mortimer M. Jackson,
noticed, 271.
CABOT, James Elliot, memoirs of
Ralph Waldo Emerson, noticed,
549-
Calhoun, John C, secession, illus-
trated in the career of, 206.
California, secured by the U. S.,
104.
California Historical Society, papers,
Vol. I., noticed, 96.
Campbell, Col. Arthur, memoran-
dum of the route of, from Savannah
to Augusta, 1779, 256, 342.
Camp-meetings, early, 427.
Canada, historical studies in, 86.
Canadian Institute, proceedings,
noticed, 551
Canning, E. W. B., Indian land
grants in Western Mass , 142.
Cantley, E. A., school law in the N.
W. territory, 444.
Carroll, Charles, papers of, 33.
Chalmers, George, papers of, 30.
Chamberlain, Mellen, the constitu-
tional relations of the American
Colonies to the English Govern-
ment at the commencement of the
American Revolution, 85.
Chapman, T. J., the French in the
Allegheny Valley, noticed. 180 ;
the religious movement of 1800,
426.
Charles I., silver knife and fork of,
364-
Charleston, S. C.,the earthquake in,
251 ; year book of, noticed, 269.
Charney, D^sird, ancient cities of
the New World, no iced, 548.
Cherokee Indians, Journalism
among the, George E. Foster, 65.
Cherokee Phoenix, first aboriginal
newspaper, 65
China, Travels in, noticed, 182-
Christ in camp, or Religion in Lee's
army, noticed, 358.
Christmas poems, Mrs. Martha J.
Church-bells, the first cast
Lamb, 53^ ; Gilbert Nash, 537.
in Ameri-
ca, 261.
Church of England, established in
N. Y., 83.
Church History, the American chap-
ter in Part 1., Philip Schatf, 289,
II., 390.
Clap-boardTrees, history of, noticed,
549-
Clarke, Daniel, ancestry of, 170, 350.
Clarke, Gen. George Rogers, papers
of, 33-
Clason, A. W., Stephen A. Douglas
and the Free Soilers, 478.
Clay, Henry, Life of, noticed, 04.
Cleaveland, Rev. John, a Patriotic
Parson of the Revolution, D. F.
Lamson, 239.
Cleveland, Grover, address at the
centennial of Clinton, N. Y., 176.
Clinton, Gov. George, fac-simile of
letter from, to Gov. Hamilton,
June 2, 17^3,439.
Clinton, N. Y., centennial celebration
of, 174, 175.
Clinton, Sir Henry, introduces the
willow tree in America, 169.
Collyer, Rev. Robert, the Fairfaxes
of England and America, 542.
Columbia College, N. Y., 88.
Columbus, Christopher, an original
portrait of, 444.
Connecticut, history of, noticed, 549.
Constitution, the, a poem, J. J. J.
Rooney, 443 ; centennial of the
framing of the, 449.
Cooke, George Willis, History of
clap-board trees, noticed, 549.
Cooke, Gen. P. St. George, one day's
work of a Captain of Dragoons, 35,
a winter's work of a Captain of
Dragoons, 510 ; marches troops
from New Mexico to San Diego,
Cal., 1846, 510; discovers railroad
route to the Pacific, makes new
southern boundary of the U. S..
513 : suppresses the Fremont
Mutiny, 514.
Cookery Book, Universal, noticed,
95-
Coolidge, Susan, History of Phila-
delphia, noticed, 550.
Cromwell, Oliver, portrait, 361.
Crosby, Enoch, the spy} 73, 341.
Cushing, Thomas, papers of, 33.
DANA., Francis, papers of, 33.
Davis, S. M. Henry, Norway
Nightsand Russian Days, noticed,
270.
Davis, W. W. H., the Spaniard in
New Mexico, 85.
Dawes, E. C, letter of Jeremiah Nel-
son to Dr. Cutler, Feb. 18, 1807,
relative to the Burr expedition,
contributed by, 538.
Deane, James E., Enoch Crosby, the
Spy, not a myth, 73.
Deane, Silas, papers of, 31.
Dedham, Mass., Births, Marriages
and Deaths in, Vol. I., noticed,
272.
Devereaux, Gen. Arthur F., Some
account of Pickett's Charge at
Gettysburg. 13.
Dickson, W. M., Union, Secession,
Abolition, as illustrated in the
careers of Webster, Calhoun and
Sumner, 206 ; the apotheosis of the
Plutocrat, 497.
Dimitry, John, three good giants
from Rabelais, noticed, 455.
Douglas, Stephen A., and the Free
Soilers. A. W. Clason, 478.
Drake, Samuel Adams, the making
of the great West, noticed, 455.
[NDEX
5DD
Draper, Lyman C, sketch of, no-
ticed, 271.
Drummond, Prof., address on Cen-
tral Africa, 544, 545.
Drummond, Robert, loyalist, ances-
try of, 447.
Dykman, J. O., the troops at Que-
bec, led by Capt. Daniel Morgan,
445-
Dynasty, the oldest, 540.
EADUS, Capt. William, a proto-
1 type of "Leather Stocking," 532;
Earthquake, the, in Charleston, 1886,
251-
Eastch ester, N. Y., Lafayette at,
1824, 463.
Edsall, Thomas H., History of
Kings Bridge, N. Y., noticed, 360.
Education, the wherewithal system
of, noticed, 183.
Egyptian Obelisk, the, in New York,
169, 353.
Ellery, William, papers of, 33.
Emerson, Ralph Waldo, character
of, 543 ; memoirs of, noticed, 549.
Emmet, Thomas Addis, M.D., illus-
trations from the collection of, x,
3. 5- 9-
Emmons, Edward, the Sabbath a
legal day of rest, 261, 351, 352.
England, history of, noticed, 93 ; ?hip
Resolute presented to, 97.
English Calendar, change in the,
170, 262.
English Publishers, and American
authors, 349.
FAIRFAX Family of England and
America, 542.
Fairfield, Conn., Lafayette at, 1824,
463.
Fairfield County Historical Society,
officers, 448.
Federal Constitution, origin of the
Francis Norton Sharpe, 130 ; his-
tory of, noticed, 181 ; the framing
of the, 542.
Federal Convention of 1787, 542.
Fitzgerald, David, change in the
English calendar, 263.
Forbes, Walter K., readings for
young ladies, noticed, 360.
Foster, George E., journalism
among the Cherokee Indians, 65.
France, recollections of a minister
to, noticed, 548.
Francke, Kuno, the Parliamentary
experiment in Germany, 85.
Franklin, Benjamin, papers of, 26.
Franklin, Lady Jane, portrait and
fac-simile autograph of, 99; visits
Greece, 161.
Freehold, N. J., the old Tennent
church at, 87.
Free Soilers, Stephen A. Douglas
and the. 478.
Fremont, Gen. John C, expedition
into California, 198 ; the mutiny
of, 1846, 514.
French, the, in the Allegheny Valley,
noticed, 180.
Frey, Albert R., Sobriquets and
Nicknames, noticed, 550.
Fuller, Amos H-, Egyptian Obelisk
in N. Y., 169.
GARDINER, Asa Bird, Gen.
James M. Varnum, of the Con-
tinental Army, 185.
Gardiner, Samuel S., portrait, 381.
Gates, Gen. Horatio, papers of, 31.
GeYard, Chevalier, diplomatic cor-
respondence of, 31.
Germain, Lord, portrait, 9.
Germany, the Parliamentary experi-
ment in, 8^.
Gettysburg, Pa., account of ()cn.
Pickett's charge at the battle "f,
Gen. Arthur F. Dcvereauxy 13;
battle scene at, 17.
Gilmore, James R , John Sevier as a
Commonwealth Builder, noticed,
95-
Goodc, G. Brown, an interesting
dialogue in 1676 between Bacon
the rebel, and John Goodc, 418.
Goodc, John, letter to Gov. Berke-
ley. Jan. 30, 1676, giving the prop-
ositions of Nathaniel Bacon, the
rebel, 418.
Goold, William, the first treaty of
the (J. S., 173.
Grant, Gen. U. S., The Personal Me-
moirs and Military History of,
versus the Record of the Army of
the Potomac, noticed, 453 ; ances-
try of, 540.
Grantham, Lord, diplomatic corre-
spondence of, 30.
Greek Revolution, United States and
the, Charles K. Tucker man, 117.
Greeley, Horace. Practical advice
of, an incident of Reconstruction
of Mississippi, 423; extract of a
letter to Bayard Taylor, 449.
Greene, Gen. Nathaniel, papers of,
26.
Greenough, Horatio, letters to E. E.
Salisbury, respecting the works
of, 33°-
Greenwich, Conn., Lafayette at,
1824, 463.
HAGEMAN, John F., the French
colony at Princeton, N. J., 87.
Hague, Rev. William, Life Notes or
fifty years' outlook, noticed, 456.
Haines, Ferguson, facsimile letter
of Gov. George Clinton to Gov.
Hamilton, June 2, 1753, contributed
bv, 439.
Hale, John P., Trans- Allegheny
Pioneers, noticed, 454.
Hale, Nathan, the spy, noticed, 455.
Halleck, Fitz Greene, anecdote of,
356.
Hallock, Robert C, the old Tennent
Church at Freehold, N. J., 87.
Hamilton, Alexander, papers of, 26.
Hamilton Oneida Academy in 1794,
Walsteln Root, 396.
Hancock, John, papers of, 29.
Hancock, Gen. Winfield S., battle
scene representing, at Gettysburg,
Harstene, Henry J., commander of
the Arctic ship Resolute, portrait,
109.
Hart, Albert Bushnell, The Biog-
raphy of a River and Harbor Bill,
52.
Harvard University, catalogue of,
printed as a broadside, 442 ; its
physical basis and intellectual life,
Hatfield, Guy, Harvey Burch not
Enoch Crosby, 341.
Hayden, Horace Edwin, the sur-
name Oliver, ^40.
Heath, Gen. William, papers of, 30.
Henry, Patrick, papers of, 33 ; re-
ligious libertv in Virginia, and, 86.
Hillsborough, Earl of, portrait, 7.
IliK h« o. k. Di). Rev Roswell \> ,
death of, 1
Holland So. i< ly o| New Vork
Book, ii"ti< ed, 1
Holmes < Uiver Wendell, the lar| e
trees oi \eV England, S44-
Hopkins. Esek, papers o/, 1.
Hopkins, Rev. .Mark, memorial
sketc li of, i' ■
Hopkins. St. pnen, papers •■:
stroyed, 33.
I [01 ' 1 hestnuts, utility of, 172.
Hubbai <l, < )liver P., an extra
nary Indian tow n. , ■ the tre id
mill in America, -25.
Hudson River, N. Y.. viewl bridge
on. 1
Hurlbut. George <"., meaning oi the
word boodli
Hurlbut. 1 fenry u . the Prototype
of •■ Leather Stocking," 532.
Hutchinson, Gov. Thomas, papers
of, 25.
TNDIAN Brook, N. Y., view of,
X 1826, 475.
Indians, Journalism among the Cher-
okees, 65 ; meaning of the word
Tiandcrra. S? ; land grants in
Western Mass, 142; of Kings
Bridge. N. Y.. i(x) ; Running An-
telope's autobiography, 243; an ex-
traordinary Indian town, 339 ;
Gen. Sullivan's expedition against
the, 1779, 359; education of the
Oneida. 396.
Irving, Washington, literary work
of, 175.
Isham, Charles, sketch of Silas
Deane, 85; the fishery question,
I noticed, 182.
TACKSON, Mortimer M., sketch of,
J noticed, 271.
James, E. J., the problem of trans-
portation, legal tender decisions,
«5-
Jaques, Father Isaac, life of, no-
ticed, 454.
Jay, John, papers of, 33 ; peace ne-
gotiations of 1783, 85.
Jefferson. Thomas, papers of, 26.
Jessup, Edward, descendants of,
noticed, 550.
Jessup, Rev. Henry Griswold, de-
scendants of Edward Jessup, no-
ticed. 5 so.
Johnson, Laura Winthrop, the Long-
fellow prose birthday book, no-
ticed, 455.
Johnston, Alexander, History of
Conn.,. noticed. 549.
Jones, Col. Charles C. Jr . Route of
Col. Campbell from Savannah to
Augusta, 1779, annotated by, 256
342.
Jones, J. William, Christ in Camp,
or Religion in Lee's Army, no-
ticed, 358.
Joseph II., character of, 80.
KEARNY, Gen. S. W.. estab-
lishes territorial government in
New Mexico, 184' .
Kentucky, the admission of, into the
Union. 306.
Kentucky Gazette, first newspaper
West of the Alleghanics, iri ; fac-
simile of heading. 132 ; view of
building used by. 178;. 126
King. Horatio, unpublished letter of
President Buchanan, contributed
:>:?
;o
INDEX
by, — : speech of Daniel Webster,
candidate lor President, 445.
King, John A., the framing of the
Federal Constitution, 542.
Kings Bridge, N. \ .. Indian name
for, iro ; history of, noticed, 360.
Kirk, Eleanor. Beecher as a hurnor-
isr. noticed. 456.
Kirkland. Joseph, Zuryy a novel,
noticed. 271.
Kirkland. Rev. Samuel, founder of
the Hamilton Oneida Academy,
Knight, George W., location of land
granted to Lafayette, 83.
Knox. Gen. Henry, papers of, 30.
LAFAYETTE, Marquis de, land
granted to, 83 : in Missouri,
154"; portrait, 457 ; his visit to U. S.
1S24-25, 457 ; at Boston, 459, 465 ;
reception at N. Y., 459, 465 ; at
Providence, 461 ; in Connecticut,
461 : reception at New Rochelle,
463 ; at Greenwich, Norwalk,
Stamford, and New Haven, 463;
at Albany, 467 ; reception at Phil-
adelphia, 467; entertained by the
''State in Schuylkill Club, ^469;
menu of dinner to, 471; thirteen
toasts at dinner to, 477.
Lake George, the first steamboat on,
78.
Lakeville, Conn., cannon cast for
the Continental Army in, 204.
Lamb, Gen. John, papers of, 31.
Lamb, Mrs. Martha J., Henry
Laurens in the London Tower, 1 ;
a love romance in history, 150; the
origin of N. Y., glimpse of the
famous West India Company, 273 ;
the manor of Shelter Island, 361 ;
Lafayette's visit to U. S., 1824-25,
459; Baby Grace, the Christmas
summons, 535.
Lamson, Rev. D. F., D.D., sketch of
Rev. John Cleaveland, a patriotic
parson, 239.
Lathbury, Mary A., Illustrations of
Child Life, noticed, 551.
Latrobe. Benjamin Henry, architect
of the Capitol at Washington,
view of the columns designed by,
128.
Laurens. Henry, portrait, 1 ; in the
London Tower, Mrs. Martha J.
Lamb. 1 ; fac-simile autograph
letter of, 3 ; papers of, 31.
Lawrence, L. L., who led the troops
after Arnold was wounded at
Quebec, 350.
" Leather Stocking," the prototype
of. Henry //. Hurlbut, 532.
Lecky, William Edward Hartpole,
History of England, noticed, 93.
Lee. Arthur, papers of, 29.
Lee. Gen. Charles, papers of, 31.
Le Plongeon, Alice D., the Mayas,
their customs, laws, and religion,
233.
Letters, fac-simile letter of Henry
Laurens, 14 Sept., 1780, 3 ; from M.
C. Hamilton, acting Secretary of
War, 16 Feb., 1843, to Col. Snively,
in regard to Mexican traders, 37 ;
Gen. Gaines to Capt Cooke, Aug.
21, 1843, on the same subject, 41 •
President Buchanan to Royal
Phelps, respecting the secession of
the Southern States, 77 ; Col. Bev-
erley Robinson to Frederick
Philipse, May 5, 1786, in regard
to his lands, same to Mrs. Ogilvie,
April 28, 1 -87. relating to family
affairs, 164 ; Gen. Arnold to Com-
mittee of Safety of Schenectady,
Aug. 16, 1777, relative to move-
ments of the British at Fort
George, 250 ; Horatio Greenough,
to ET E. Salisbury, Jan. 30, 1838,
and April 28, 1839, in regard to
his works, 330 ; Gov. Stuyvesant
to the church at Brooklyn, N. Y.,
1660, 336 ; fac-simile letter of Na-
thaniel Sylvester, 1675, to Gov.
John Winthrop, 367; fac-simile
letter of Gov. George Clinton,
June 2, 1753, to Gov. Hamilton,
439; Gen. Peter Muhlenberg to
Col. Richard C. Anderson, June 7,
1794. relative to land for Va. troops,
441 ; William Milner to Thomas
Morris, July 22, 1825, on the re-
ception of Gen. Lafayette, 471 ;
Richard Rush to William Milner,
July 21, 1825, in regard to reception
of Gen. Lafayette. 475 ; Jeremiah
Nelson to Dr. Cutler, Feb. 18, 1807,
relative to the Burr expedition,
538.
Lewis, Richard C, letter of Gen.
Muhlenberg to Col. Anderson,
June 7, 1794, contributed by, 441.
Lexington, Ky., view of the old
fort at, 123 : present business
block on the site of old fort, 127.
Libraries, increase of, 355.
Lincoln, Abraham, the first dollar
earned by, 71.
Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, papers of,
32-
Lloyd, Aaron, the Reformed Church
at Belleville, N. J., 87.
Lloyd's Neck, N. Y., fac-simile of
quit-claim deed of, 378.
London Tower, Henry Laurens con-
fined in the, 1 ; view of, 5.
Longfellow, Henry W., Memorials
of, noticed, 181 ; prose birthday
book, noticed, 455.
Lossing, Benson J., the two spies,
Nathan Hale and John Andre,
noticed, 455.
Louis XIV., lines on the death of,
540-
Ludlum, J.K.,the Way of the World,
Death of Louis XIV., a poem, 540.
Luzerne, Chevalier de la, diploma-
tic correspondence of, 31.
Luzerne, N. Y., Milbert's view of
bridge near, 1826, 460.
McCLELLAN, Caswell, the Per-
sonal Memoirs and Military
History of U. S. Grant versus the
Record of the Army of the Poto-
mac, noticed, 543.
McFarland, R. W., change in the
English calendar. 262; school lands
in N. W. territory, 541.
Machias, Me., the capture of the
Margarita at, 173.
Madison, James, papers of, 26 ; life
of, noticed, 550.
Magazine of American History,
present home of the, its memories
and associations, 76.
Maine, the visits of the Presidents of
the U. S. to, 173.
Maine Historical Society, June meet-
ing, papers on the first treaty of
the U. S. by William Goold ; the
visits of the Presidents of the U. S.
to Maine, by Joseph Williamson ;
the capture of the Margarita at
Machias, by George F. Talbot,
J73-
Manchester Historical Society,
Mass., organization ot. officers, 87.
Mansfield, Q. P., change in the Eng-
lish calendar, 170.
Martin, Rev. Felix, life of Father
Isaac Jaques, noticed, 454.
Maryland, cannon cast for the Con-
tinental Army in, 204.
Massachusetts, Indian land grants in
Western, E. IV. B. Canning, 142 ;
cannon foundries in, 203.
Mathews, Joanna H., Uncle Ruther-
ford's Attic, a story for girls, no-
ticed, 456.
May, Sophie, Drone's Honey, no-
ticed, 182.
Mayas, Customs, Laws, and Religion
of the, Alice D. Le Plongeon, 233.
Memory, the faculty of, 543.
Metlakahtla, history of, noticed, 183.
Mexico, boundary of, 1843, 35-
Milbert, J., picturesque sketches in
United States, 1826, 90, 458, 460,
462, 464, 466, 468, 470, 4-3, 474, 475.
Mills, Herbert Elmer, diplomatic
prelude to the Seven Years' War,
85.
Milner, William, letter to Thomas
Morris, July 22, 1825, relative to
the reception of Gen. Lafayette,
471.
Missouri, Lafayette's visit to, Will-
iam A. Wood, 154.
Monroe, James, papers of, 26 : life
of, noticed, 550.
Morris, Gouverneur, papers of, 33.
Morton, Washington, his marriage,
150.
Muhlenberg, Gen. Peter, letter to
Col. Anderson, June 7. 1794, 441.
Munger, Theodore T., Appeal to
Life, noticed, 95.
AT ASH, Gilbert, Christmas, a poem,
Nebraska Historical Society, Trans-
actions and Reports, Vol. II., no-
ticed, 359.
Nelson, Jeremiah, letter to Dr.
Cutler, Feb. 18, 1807, relative to
the Burr expedition, 538.
Nelson, William, the founding of
Paterson, N. J., as a manufacturing
metropolis, 87 ; the Stamp Act,
1765, 445. _ _
Nelson s River, origin of, 444.
Newberry, Walter L., bequest of, for
a library, 355.
New Hampshire Historical Society,
annual meeting, election of officers,
I73-
New Haven, Conn., view of monu-
ment erected to the memory of the
soldiers of, t79 ; Lafayette at, 1824,,
463-
New Jersey, cannon cast for the
Continental Army in, 204 ; Loyal-
ists in the Revolutionary War,
noticed, 272.
New Jersey Historical Society, May
meeting, papers on the Tennent
Church, by Robert C. Hallock ;
French colony at Princeton, by
John F. Hageman ; eulogy on
Gov. Ward, by F. W. Ricord ; the
Reformed Church at Belleville, by
Aaron Lloyd ; the founding of
Paterson, by William Nelson, 87.
New Mexico, the Spaniard in, 85 ;,
INDEX
557
the insurrection of 1846-47, 333 ;
territorial government established
in, 510.
New Rochcllc, N. Y., Lafayette at,
1824, 462.
New York City, Revolutionary manu-
scripts in, 31 ; the present home of
the Magazine of A merican J //'story,
76 ; Church of England established
in, 83 ; the Egyptian Obelisk in,
169 ; barges in. 261 ; the origin of,
273 ; Daguerre^s experiment for
taking portraits, 1839, 356 ; recep-
tion to Lafayette, 1824, 459, 465;
view of Provost and Chapel
streets, 1826, 466.
New York Historical Society, Octo-
ber meeting, papers on the Fair-
faxes of England and America by
Rev. Robert Collyer, D.D.; Nov.
meeting, Charles Brockden Brown,
Novelists and Men of Letters, by
Edward I. Stevenson ; anniver-
sary meeting ; the framing of the
Federal Constitution, by John A.
King, 542.
North Carolina, an extraordinary In-
dian town in, 339.
Northwest, settlement, of the, 81.
Norwalk, Conn., Lafayette at, 1824,
463-
Norway Nights, noticed, 270.
Notes— July— Character of Joseph
II., 80; political parties, 80 ; satire
and humor, 80 ; settlement of the
Northwest, 81.
A ug?ist— Our diplomatic service,
168 ; death of Rev. Dr. Roswell D.
Hitchcock, 168 ; Kings Bridge In-
dians, 169.
Sefite?nber — Souvenirs of the
Arctic ship Resolute, 259 ; the um-
brella in history, 259 ; postal ser-
vice in the Spanish-Portuguese
colonies in America, 1800, 260 ; the
use of words, 260.
October — Authors a hundred
years ago, 349 ; English publishers
and American authors, 349 ; wed-
dings in colonial days, 349.
November — Harvard catalogue,
442 ; death of Hon. Mark Skin-
ner, 442; the Constitution, a poem,
443 ; Daniel Webster, 443 ; the
Pringle family, 444.
December— A Yankee Thanks-
giving, 1792, 439 ; Aaron Burr's
expedition, 439 ; a Paris Christ-
mas, 439; the way of the world,
death of Louis XIV., 440.
Nova Scotia Historical Society, col-
lections, noticed, 551.
OGDEN, David, ancestry of, 170.
Ohio, the admission of, into
the Union. 306.
Ohio Historical Society, July meet-
ing, election of officers, 264.
Oliver, Charles, 540.
Oliver, John F., ancestry of James
Bridger, 351.
Oneida Historical Society, June
meeting, take action on the cen-
tennial of Clinton, N. Y., 174.
Oneida Indians, education of, 396.
O'Neil, Charles A., American Elec-
toral System, noticed, 182.
Original Documents — Letter of
President Buchanan to Royal
Phelps, Dec. 22, i860, respecting
the secession of the Southern
States, 77 ; unpublished papers re-
lating to the lirst Bteamboal on
Lake George, 70; General orders
relating to German troops at Win-
chester, Va., 1781. 164; unpub
lished letters of Col. Beverly Rob
inson, 1786, 1787, relating to family
affairs, 164; route of Col. Camp-
bell from Savannah to Augusta,
1779, 256, 342 ; far-simile letter o!
Gov. George Clinton to Gov.
Hamilton. June 2, 1753, 439 ; letter
of Gen. Peter Muhlenberg to Col.
Richard C. Anderson, June 7, 1794,
441; letter of Jeremiah Nelson to
Dr. Manasseh Cutler, Feb. 18, 1807,
relative to the Burr expedition,
538.
Orr, Hugh, cannon foundry of. fur-
nishes cannon for the Revolution-
ary War, 203.
Otis, Fesscnden N., M. D., Presenta-
tion of the Arctic ship Resolute by
the U. S. to the Queen of England,
97-
Otis, James, papers of, destroyed, 33.
PACIFIC Ocean, first railroad
route to the, 513.
Paris Christmas, a, 539.
Paterson, N. J , the founding of, as
a manufacturing metropolis, 87.
Peck, Charles H., Aaron Burr, a
study, I, 403 ; II, 482.
Pelletreau, William S., two unpub-
lished letters of Col. Beverly Rob-
inson, contributed by, 164 ; loca-
tion of Pittsburgh, N. Y., 262.
Pennsylvania, cannon cast for the
Continental Armv in, 204. 205.
Perrin, William Henry, the first
newspaper West of the Alleghan-
ies, 121.
Phelps Family, the, 444.
Philadelphia, Pa., centennial of the
Constitution of the U. S. in, 265,
449; Lafayette at, 1824, 459, 467;
history of. noticed, 550.
Pickering, Timothy, papers of, 29.
Pickett, Gen. George E., Confeder-
ate Army, at the battle of Gettys-
burg. 17.
Pittsburgh, N. Y., location of, 82,
262.
Plutocrat, the Apotheosis of the, W.
M. Dickson, 407
Pocahontas, and her descendants,
noticed, 360.
Political Parties, 80.
Price, Gen. Sterling, portrait, 333 ;
suppresses the New Mexico insur-
rection of 1846-47, 333.
Princeton, N. J., the French colony
at, 87.
Pringle family, the, 444.
Providence, R. I., view of, 1826, 462;
Lafayette's visit to, 465.
QUEBEC, Literary and Historical
Society of, annual meeting,
^election of officers, 87 ; who led
the troops after Arnold was
wounded at, 3S0, 445.
Queries— July— The Stamp Act, 82 ;
Pittsburgh, N. Y., 82; Boodle. 82.
August— Casting a shoe after a
bride, 169: did Sir Henry Clinton
introduce the weeping willow in
America, 169 ; the Egyptian Obe-
lisk in N. Y., 169; change in the
English calendar, 170 ; ancescry of
William Swayne. David Ogden,
and Daniel Clark, 170.
sv/./. mbi > Berg<
Sabbath, .■ 1 ; < hun h-bell
alien disabilities,
October Who led the troops
after Arnold wa
Quetx 1 . ; an< estrj 1
* lai Ice, o : the captun d old
world town, 351.
\ portrait "i ( "< lum-
bus, .1t , ; Nelson's 1<1\( r
author of lines beginning, '
with her sandals dipped U
444, school law of the Xortl
444; the Phelps family. 444.
December Language 40; old-
est dynasty, 540; ancestry ol Gen.
Grant, 540 ; an old cloek. 40; Ol-
iver, 540.
Quincy. Josiah, papers 1 ■:. . . : his
marriage, 150.
RABELAIS, Francois, three good
giants, noticed, 45s.
Ragozir*, Zehalde A., Story of As-
syria, noticed, 94.
Railroad route to the Pacific, the
first, 513.
Ranke, Leopold von, memorial
sketch of, 85.
Read, George, papers of, 33.
Reed, Joseph, papers of. 28, 31.
Religious Movement of iScx». the,
T. J. Chapman, .■ I .
Replies Jul] — A historic meet-
ing-house. 82 ; Tianderra, 83 ) the
church of England in N. Y. - ;
public land, 83.
A ugust Our presidents as
horsemen, 170 ; origin of the word
Boodle, 171 ; at the death angle
and from the Wilderness to Spott-
sylvania, 171; horse-chestnuts. 17 '
September — Casting a sh< e after
abride, 262; Pittsburgh, N.Y.. 2^2;
Boodle. 262 ; change in the Eng-
lish calendar, 262, 263.
October— Ancestry of James
Bridger, 3SV the Sabbath. 351, 352;
residence of Col. Beverly" Robin-
son, 352 ; Egyptian Obelisk. 353 ;
Boodle, 353.
November— Boodle, 44= ; Stamp
Act. 1765, 445 ; who led the troops
at Quebec, after Arnold was
wounded. 445 ; ancestry of Robert
Drummond, 447.
December — School lands. 541;
Daniel Webster, 541 ; citizenship
and suffrage, 542 ; first Reformed
Dutch Church. Brooklyn. 540.
Resolute, the Arctic ship, present-
ed by the LT. S. to Queen Victoria,
97 ; views of, 97, 103. 105.
Rhode Island Historical Society.
July meeting, papers on the appli-
cation of steam power, 166310 i;8i,
by Gov. Dyer, 174 ; October meet-
ing, report on seal of the Society,
appoints delegate to the centen-
nial of Marietta. Ohio. 44S ; No-
vember meeting, the Federal Con-
vention of 1787. by Prof. F. B. An-
drews, 542.
Rhode Island Society of the Cin-
cinnati, appoint delegates to the
centennial of Marietta. Ohio. 44 <■
Robertson. R. S., similarity of the
paper, at the Death Angle, by
Charles A. Patch, and from the
Wilderness to Spottsylvania. by,
Robertson. Wyndham, Pocahontas,
558
INDEX
her descendants, noticed,
Robinson. Col. Beverly, two un-
published letters of, 1786, 1787,
relating to family affairs, 164;
family and residence of, 352.
Rochambeau, Count de. papers of,
Rodney. Caesar, papers of. 33.
Rooney, J. J. J., the Constitution, a
poem. 44:.
Root. Walstein. Hamilton Oneida
Academy in 1-04, 396.
Running Antelope's Autobiogra-
phy. 243,
Rush, benjamin, papers of. 31.
Rush. Richard, letter to William
Milner, July 21. 1S25, respecting
the receptio'n to Gen. Lafayette.
Russian Days, noticed. 270.
Rutledge, Edward, papers of, de-
stroyed, 34.
SABBATH, legal day of rest, 261.
Sackett's Harbor, N. Y., Mil-
bert's view of the military post at,
1826. 474.
Salisbury, Conn., cannon cast for
the revolutionary war, cast in,
204.
Salisbury. Edward Elbridge, two
letters of Horatio Greenough, con-
tributed by. 330.
Salisbury, Mrs. Edward E.. ancestry
of William Swayne. David Ogden,
and Daniel Clarke. 170. 351 ; an-
cestry of Gen. Grant, 540.
Samuels. Capt. S.. from the Fore-
castle to the Cabin, noticed, 183.
San Diego. Cal., U. S. troops arrive
at. 1S46, 510.
Sanford, Elias B., History of Conn,
noticed, 549.
Satire and Humor, 80.
Schaff . Philip, the American Chapter
in Church History. Part I., 289;
II-, 390.
Schenectady, N. Y., first railroad at,
457-
School lands in the N. W. territory,
444. 541.
Schouler, James, historical group-
ing. 85, 326.
Schurz, Carl, life of Henry Clay,
noticed, 94.
Schuyler. Philip, papers of, 33.
Schuylkill River, Pa., water works
on the. 1826. 470.
Scituate. R. I., cannon cast for the
Revolutionary war, cast in, 204.
•• Scots wha ha' wi' Wallace bled,"
the manuscript of, 265.
Scruggs. William L., the Sabbath a
legal day of rest, 351 ; citizenship
and suffrage, 542.
Seligman. Edwin R. A., the long
and short haul clauses of the inter-
State commerce act, 85.
Sevier. John, as a commonwealth
builder, noticed. 95.
Shelter Island. N. Y.. the manor of,
Mrs. Martha J. Lamb, 361 ; map
of, 362 : views of the mansion and
grounds at, 365, 369, 375, 377, 382,
384, 385. 388.
Sherman. Roger, papers of, 34.
Shippen. Ed ward, ] capers of, 31.
Six Nations. Gen. Sullivan's expedi-
tion against the, 1779, noticed,
Skinner, Mark, death of. 442.
Society of the Cincinnati, triennial
meeting, election of officers, 264 ;
reception to Lafayette, 1824, 466.
South Carolina, cannon cast for the
Continental army in, 204.
Sparks. Jared, manuscript collection
of. 30.
Springfield. Mass.. cannon foundry
in. 1778. 203.
Stamford, Conn., Lafayette at, 1824,
463-
Stamp Act of 1765, 82, 445.
'" State in Schuylkill " Club, enter-
tains Lafayette. 469.
Statistics, the study of, 75.
Sterling Iron Works. N. Y., furnish
cannon for the French war, 204.
Stetson, J. A., the death of Daniel
Webster, 443.
Steuben. Baron, papers of, 31.
Stevenson. Edward I., Charles
Brockden Brown novelist, 542.
Stewart, George Jr.. historical
studies in Canada, 86.
Stille", Charles J., religious liberty
in Va., and Patrick Henry, 86.
Stirling, Lord, papers of, 31.
Stoddard, William O., James Madi-
son, James Monroe, and John
Quincy Adams, noticed, 550.
Stone, William L., general orders
relating to German troops, 1781,
contributed by, 164.
Stormont, Lord, portrait, 11 ; diplo-
matic correspondence of, 30.
Storrs, R. S., the value of historical
study, 157.
Strohm, Gertrude, Universal Cook-
ery book, noticed, 95.
Stryker, William S , N. J. Volunteers
(Loyalists) in the Revolutionary
war, noticed, 272.
Stuyvesant, Gov. Peter, letter intro-
ducing Rev. Henricus Selyns to
the church in Brooklyn, N. Y.,
336-
Sullivan, Gen. John, papers of, 33 ;
Journals of the Military Expedi-
tion of, against the Six Nations
1779, noticed, 359.
Sumner, Charles, Abolition, illus-
trated in the career of, 206.
Super, Charles W., change in the
English calendar, 263.
Swayne, William, ancestry of, 170.
Swinburne, Algernon C, Poems,
noticed, 271.
Swiss History, a study in, 8<;.
Sylvester, Nathaniel, the Manor of
Shelter Island, home of, 361 ; fac-
simile of letter to Gov. Winthrop,
367-
TARBELL, J., Horace Greely's
practical advice. An incident of
reconstruction of Mississippi, 423.
Taylor, Bayard, Horace Greely's
advice to, 449.
Tennessee, the admission of, into the
Union, 306.
Texas, troops of, captured for tres-
pass, 36.
Thanksgiving Day, a Yankee, 1792,
539-
Thomas, Gen. John, papers of, 33.
Thomson, Charles, papers of, 33.
Thorpe, Francis Norton, origin of
the Federal Constitution, 130.
Thwaites, Reuben G., Biographical
Sketch of Lyman C. Draper, no-
ticed, 27 r.
Tianderra. meaning of the Indian
word, 83.
Trans-Alleghany Pioneers, noticed,
454-
Treadmill, the, in America, Oliver
P. Hubbard, 525.
Trumbull, Gov. Jonathan, papers of,
24.
Tryon, Gov. William, letter book of,
1765, 1771, 30.
Tryon, Thomas, Interior Decora-
tions, noticed, 551.
Tucker, Capt. Samuel, papers of,
3°-
Tuckerman, Arthur Lyman, History
of Architecture, noticed, 453.
Tuckerman, Charles K., American
Progress, a poem, 72 ; the U. S.
and the Greek revolution, 217.
Tyler, John, his marriage, 89.
Tyler, Moses Coit, the historic name
of our country, 85.
UNITED STATES, capture of
Texas troops for trespass, 36 ;
mail service, 45 ; the biography of
a river and harbor bill, 52 ; first
aboriginal newspaper in, 65 ; study
of statistics, 75; political parties;
80 ; settlement of the Northwest^
81 ; land granted to Lafayette, 83;
the inter-State Commerce Act, 85 ;
legal tender decisions, 85 ; Arctic
ship Resolute presented by the, to
Queen Victoria, 97 ; origin of the
Federal Constitution, 130 ; diplo-
matic service, 198 ; introduction of
the weeping-willow tree in, 169;
first treaty of the, 173 ; visits or
the Presidents of the, to Maine,
173 ; history of the Federal Consti-
tution, noticed, 181 ; the fishery
question, 182 ; electoral system,
182 ; how California was se-
cured, 193 ; and the Greek revolu-
tion, 217 ; centennial of the Con-
stitution, 265 ; church history in
the, 289 ; Kentucky, Tennessee,
Ohio, admitted into the Union,
306 ; digest of the International
law of, 357 : the religious move-
ment of 1800, 426 ; the Constitu-
tion, a poem, 443 ; centennial of
the Constitution, 449 ; Lafayette's
visit, 1824-25, 457; first railroad
route to the Pacific, 513 ; new
Southern boundary, 513 ; the tread-
mill in, 525 ; the Burr expedition,
538, 539 ; the framing of the Fed-
eral Constitution, 542 ; the Fed-
eral convention of 1787, 542.
Usselincx, William, his interest in
the West India Company, 281.
VANCORTLANDT, Mrs. Pierre,
unpublished papers relating to
the first steamboat on Lake
George, contributed by, 78.
Van Gelder, papers, noticed, 18 -;.
Van Schaack, Henry C, the auto-
graph collection of, 160, 249.
Varnum, Gen. James M., of the
Continental Army, Asa Bird Gar-
diner, 185 ; residence of, 186 ; in-
terior views of the Varnum home-
stead, 188, 189 ; punch bowl pre-
sented by Lafayette to, 191.
Varnum, Joseph Bradley, portrait,
192.
Vincent, John Martin, study in Swiss
history, 85.
Virginia, religious liberty in, and
[NDEX
Patrick Henry, 86; cannon cast for
the Continental Army in, 204 ; Mil-
bert's view of national bridge,
1826, 473 ; Lafayette in, 477.
ADDELL, Joseph A., Annals
of Augusta Co., Va., noticed,
w
270.
Walker. Francis A., the efforts of
manual laborers to better their
condition, 84.
Walsh, A. Stewart, the Queen of the
house of David, noticed, 180.
War of 1861, Confederate Gen.
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg, 13;
battle scene at Gettysburg, 17 ; let-
ter of President Buchanan in re-
gard to the secession of the South-
ern States, 77 ; at the death angle,
171; from the Wilderness to Spott-
sylvania, 171 ; union, secession,
abolition, 206 ; the captured battle
flags, 252 ; religion in Lee's army.
358 ; Memoirs of U. S. Grant
versus the record of the Army of
the Potomac. 453.
Warren, Gen. James, papers of, 32.
Warren, Gen. Joseph, papers of,
destroyed, 33,
Washburne, E. B., Recollections of
a Minister to France, noticed, 548.
Washington, D.C, the Latrobe corn-
stalk columns in the Capitol at.
128.
Washington, George, papers of, 26,
30; his correspondence with Joseph
Reed, 28; as a horseman, 170;
anecdote of, .41 ; advertises his
land to lease, 437.
Watts, John, family name originally
Watt, 382.
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, papers of, 33.
Weare, Gov. Meschek. papers of. u
Webster, Daniel. Union, illustrated
in the career of, -j<.6 : portrait, 273 ;
character of, 317; candidate for
President, speech of, his death,
443, 541.
Weddings, in colonial days, 340.
Weed, Thurlow, a printer's appren-
tice, 1812, 178.
Wellcome. Henry L.. the Story of
Metlakahtla. noticed. 183.
Westchester, N. Y., Lafayette at,
1824. 463.
West Farms, N. Y., Lafayette at,
1824, 463.
West India Company, and the origin
of N. Y., 273 ; views of the houses
of the, 274, 280. 283. 284. 286, 287.
West Point, N. Y., Milbert's views
of, 1826, 90.
Weymouth Historical Society, Mass.,
August meeting, paper on the old
North Church, Weymouth, Mass.,
by the Secretary, 448.
Wharton, Francis. Digest of the In-
ternational Laws of the U. S.,
edited by, noticed. 357.
Whipple, Gen. William, papers of, 33.
Wilkinson, Gen. James, pap* •
33 ; his action in the Burr expedi-
tion, 538.
Williams. Amos, the captured '-1<1
world tOWn, 351.
Williams, Gen. i Hno H.. pap
destroyed. 4.
Williams. W . I)., people ruled by a
kinK unable to speak the Ian.
54°-
Williamson, Joseph, the visits '.f the
presidents of the ('. S. to Maine,
173.
Willis. N. P., his manuscript com-
position, --^5.
Wilson, James Harrison, China and
Japan, noticed, 182.
Winsor. Justin. Manuscript sources
of American History, 21.
Wood. Henry, Natural Law in the
Business World, n deed
Wood, William A. Lafayette's visit
to Missouri, 1^4 ; Gen Sterling
Price and the New Mexico insur-
rection of 1846-47, 333.
Wright. Carroll D., the study of
statistics. 75.
YORK. Me., Deeds, Book L, no-
ticed, 357.
Yorke, Sir Joseph, diplomatic corre-
spondence of, 30.
Zu
RY, a novel, noticed, 271.
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